Premium
Tightening the Belt on Polymerases: Evaluating the Physical Constraints on Enzyme Substrate Size
Author(s) -
Frieden Miriam,
Pedroso Enrique,
Kool Eric T.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1521-3773(19991216)38:24<3654::aid-anie3654>3.0.co;2-s
Subject(s) - klenow fragment , polymerase , dna polymerase , dna polymerase i , dna , dna clamp , dna polymerase ii , biology , chemistry , genetics , polymerase chain reaction , gene , reverse transcriptase , exonuclease
To test the limits of polymerase enzyme activity on geometrically constrained DNAs, four very small synthetic circular DNAs were constructed by using newly developed methods. Surprisingly, even a 13‐nucleotide circular DNA ( 1 ) can be copied successfully by both DNA and RNA polymerases, despite the very small diameter and large degree of distortion in this synthetic DNA. The picture shows models to indicate the relative sizes of 1 and the Klenow fragment of the DNA polymerase I from E . coli .