Addition of an α‐Hydroxy Acid to the Genetic Code of Bacteria

Abstract

Playing tag: The α-hydroxy acid p-hydroxy-L-phenyllactic acid has been genetically incorporated into proteins in E. coli in response to an amber nonsense codon. The site-specific introduction of backbone ester mutations was used for the site-specific hydrolysis of an affinity tag, as well as for determination of the energetic contributions of backbone hydrogen bonds to protein stability.