The strength of the template effect attracting nucleotides to naked DNA.

ABSTRACT: The transmission of genetic information relies on Watson-Crick base pairing between nucleoside phosphates and template bases in template-primer complexes. Enzyme-free primer extension is the purest form of the transmission process, without any chaperon-like effect of polymerases. This simple form of copying of sequences is intimately linked to the origin of life and provides new opportunities for reading genetic information. Here, we report the dissociation constants for complexes between (deoxy)nucleotides and template-primer complexes, as determined by nuclear magnetic resonance and the inhibitory effect of unactivated nucleotides on enzyme-free primer extension. Depending on the sequence context, Kd's range from 280 mM for thymidine monophosphate binding to a terminal adenine of a hairp

SUBMITTER: Kervio E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4066754 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature