Polymerase incorporation of a 2'-deoxynucleoside-5'-triphosphate bearing a 4-hydroxy-2-mercaptobenzimidazole nucleobase analogue.

ABSTRACT

Here, we describe the enzymatic construction of a new larger base pair formed between adenine (A) and a 4-hydroxy-2-mercaptobenzimidazole (SB) nucleobase analogue. We investigated the enzymatic incorporation of 2'-deoxynucleoside-5'-triphosphate bearing a SB nucleobase analogue (dSBTP) into oligonucleotides (ONs) by DNA polymerases. dSBTP could be effectively incorporated at the site opposite a dA in a DNA template by several B family DNA polymerases. These findings provide new insights into various aspects of biotechnology, including the design of non-natural base pairs.