Synthesis of Recoded Bacterial Genomes toward Bespoke Biocatalysis.

Ongoing efforts in synthetic biology aim at constructing (micro)organisms with (pre)defined properties. A recent breakthrough is the chemical synthesis of a recoded Escherichia coli genome by Fredens et al. (Nature, 2019). Besides the conceptual and technological tour de force, the consequences of this unprecedented effort for whole-cell biocatalysis are multifold.