Enzymatic synthesis of a segment of bacteriophage Qβ coat protein gene

The oligoribonucleotide, A-A-A-C-U-U-U-Gp, constituting a segment of RNA bacteriophage Qbeta coat protein gene was efficiently synthesized at a milligram scale by a combination of enzymatic methods using bacteriophage T4 RNA ligase and the thermophilic polynucleotide phosphorylase. A-A-A-Cp was synthesized from A-A-A and pCp by the newly developed mononucleotide addition method using T4 RNA ligase in a yield of 83%, followed by dephosphorylation with bacterial alkaline phosphatase to obtain A-A-A-C. pU-U-U-Gp was synthesized from pU-U-U and GDP by the simultaneous action of polynucleotide phosphorylase and RNase T1 in a yield of 32%. finally, the two oligonucleotides (A-A-A-C and pU-U-U-Gp) were ligated with T4 RNA ligase and the octanucleotide, A-A-A-C-U-U-U-Gp, was obtained in a yield of 85%.