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The Structural Basis for Processing of Unnatural Base Pairs by DNA Polymerases
Author(s) -
Marx Andreas,
Betz Karin
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201903525
Subject(s) - base pair , dna , computational biology , polymerase , hydrogen bond , dna polymerase , nucleic acid secondary structure , chemistry , biology , rna , genetics , molecule , gene , organic chemistry
Unnatural base pairs (UBPs) greatly increase the diversity of DNA and RNA, furthering their broad range of molecular biological and biotechnological approaches. Different candidates have been developed whereby alternative hydrogen‐bonding patterns and hydrophobic and packing interactions have turned out to be the most promising base‐pairing concepts to date. The key in many applications is the highly efficient and selective acceptance of artificial base pairs by DNA polymerases, which enables amplification of the modified DNA. In this Review, computational as well as experimental studies that were performed to characterize the pairing behavior of UBPs in free duplex DNA or bound to the active site of KlenTaq DNA polymerase are highlighted. The structural studies, on the one hand, elucidate how base pairs lacking hydrogen bonds are accepted by these enzymes and, on the other hand, highlight the influence of one or several consecutive UBPs on the structure of a DNA double helix. Understanding these concepts facilitates optimization of future UBPs for the manifold fields of applications.