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Efforts to expand the genetic alphabet: identification of a replicable unnatural DNA self-pair

Overview of Henry AA et al.

AuthorsHenry AA  Olsen AG  Matsuda S  Yu C  Geierstanger BH  Romesberg FE  
AffiliationDepartment of Chemistry   The Scripps Research Institute   10550 North Torrey Pines Road   La Jolla   California 92037   USA.  
JournalJ Am Chem Soc
Year 2004

Abstract


Six unnatural nucleotides featuring fluorine-substituted phenyl nucleobase analogues have been synthesized, incorporated into DNA, and characterized in terms of the structure and replication properties of the self-pairs they form. Each unnatural self-pair is accommodated in B-form DNA without detectable structural perturbation, and all are thermally stable and selective to roughly the same degree. Furthermore, the efficiency of polymerase-mediated mispair synthesis is similar for each unnatural nucleotide in the template. In contrast, the efficiency of polymerase-mediated self-pair extension is highly dependent on the specific fluorine substitution pattern. The most promising unnatural base pair candidate of this series is the 3-fluorobenzene self-pair, which is replicated with reasonable efficiency and selectivity.