Crystallographic analysis of engineered polymerases synthesizing phosphonomethylthreosyl nucleic acid.

ABSTRACT: Xeno-nucleic acids (XNAs) are synthetic genetic polymers with backbone structures composed of non-ribose or non-deoxyribose sugars. Phosphonomethylthreosyl nucleic acid (pTNA), a type of XNA that does not base pair with DNA or RNA, has been suggested as a possible genetic material for storing synthetic biology information in cells. A critical step in this process is the synthesis of XNA episomes using laboratory-evolved polymerases to copy DNA information into XNA. Here, we investigate the polymerase recognition of pTNA nucleotides using X-ray crystallography to capture the post-catalytic complex of engineered polymerases following the sequential addition of two pTNA nucleotides onto the 3'-end of a DNA primer. High-resolution crystal structures reveal that the polymerase mediates Watson-C

SUBMITTER: Hajjar M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9508818 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature