Xeno nucleic acid (XNA) is a synthetic
alternative to the natural nucleic acids
DNA and
RNA as information-storing
biopolymers that differs in the sugar backbone. As of 2011, at least six types of synthetic sugars have been shown to form nucleic acid backbones that can store and retrieve genetic information. Research is now being done to create synthetic polymerases to transform XNA. The study of its production and application has created a field known as
xenobiology.