A year has passed since the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Watson-Crick model for the doublehelical structure of DNA (7). Much of the celebration looked back at the marvelous advances that have emerged as genetics has come to resemble organic chemistry. Largely overlooked, however, is a new frontier in organic chemistry that has the goal of redesigning DNA to create artificial denetic systems. These artificial DNA-like molecules are providing deeper insight into how DNA works and are opening the door onto a new world of synthetic biology (2). They are also proving valuable for diagnostic testing of human diseases.
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