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Chemical Primer Extension: Individual Steps of Spontaneous Replication
Author(s) -
Stütz Jan A. Rojas,
Kervio Eric,
Deck Christopher,
Richert Clemens
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
chemistry and biodiversity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.427
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1612-1880
pISSN - 1612-1872
DOI - 10.1002/cbdv.200790064
Subject(s) - primer extension , primer (cosmetics) , deoxyribonucleotide , chemistry , nucleotide , template , rna , polymerase , oligonucleotide , computational biology , oligomer , dna , biochemistry , biology , nanotechnology , gene , materials science , organic chemistry
The replication of genetic information, as we know it from today's biology, relies on template‐directed, polymerase‐catalyzed extension of primers. It is known that short stretches of complementary RNA can form on templates in the absence of enzymes. This account summarizes recent work on efficient enzyme‐free primer extension, both with 3′‐amino‐terminal deoxyribonucleotide primers and with primers made of unmodified RNA. Near‐quantitative primer extension with half‐life times on the order of hours has been demonstrated by using azaoxybenzotriazolides of nucleotides and downstream‐binding oligomers. Further, small non‐nucleosidic substituents placed on the terminus of the template or the downstream‐binding oligomer have been shown to increase the rate and fidelity of primer‐extension reactions. Since all four templating bases (A, C, G, T/U) direct sequence‐selective primer‐extension steps, we feel that there is renewed hope that full, nonenzymatic replication from monomers may eventually be achieved.