Scientists discover microbe that breaks a fundamental rule of the genetic code

Scientists at UC Berkeley have discovered a microbe that bends one of biologys most sacred rules. Instead of treating a specific three-letter DNA code as a clear stop signal, this methane-producing archaeon sometimes reads it as a green light-adding an unusual amino acid and continuing to build the protein. The result is a kind of genetic coin flip: two different proteins can emerge from the same code, influenced partly by environmental conditions.