Template independent polymerases, and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) in particular, have been widely used in enzymatic labeling of DNA 3′-ends, yielding fluorescently-labeled polymers. The majority of fluorescent nucleotides used as TdT substrates contain tethered fluorophores attached to a natural nucleotide, and can be hindered by undesired fluorescence characteristics such as self-quenching. We previously documented the inherent fluorescence of a set of four benzo-expanded deoxynucleoside analogs (xDNA) that maintain Watson–Crick base pairing and base stacking ability; however, their substrate abilities for standard template-dependent polymerases were hampered by their large size. However, it seemed possible that a template-independent enzyme, due to lowered geometric constraints, might be less restrictive of nucleobase size. Here, we report the synthesis and study of xDNA nucleoside triphosphates, and studies of their substrate abilities with TdT. We find that this polymerase can incorporate each of the four xDNA monomers with kinetic efficiencies that are nearly the same as those of natural nucleotides, as measured by steady-state methods. As many as 30 consecutive monomers could be incorporated. Fluorescence changes over time could be observed in solution during the enzymatic incorporation of expanded adenine (dxATP) and cytosine (dxCTP) analogs, and after incorporation, when attached to a glass solid support. For (dxA)n polymers, monomer emission quenching and long-wavelength excimer emission was observed. For (dxC)n, fluorescence enhancement was observed in the polymer. TdT-mediated synthesis may be a useful approach for creating xDNA labels or tags on DNA, making use of the fluorescence and strong hybridization properties of the xDNA.
与模板无关的聚合酶,特别是末端脱氧核苷酸转移酶(TdT),已被广泛用于对 DNA 3′端进行酶标记,从而获得荧光标记的聚合物。用作 TdT 底物的大多数荧光核苷酸都含有连接到天然核苷酸上的系留荧光团,并且可能会受到自淬等不期望的荧光特性的阻碍。我们以前记录了一组四种苯扩增脱氧核苷类似物(xDNA)的固有荧光,这些类似物保持了沃森-克里克碱基配对和碱基堆叠能力;然而,它们对于标准模板依赖性聚合酶的底物能力却因体积过大而受到阻碍。然而,不依赖模板的酶由于降低了几何限制,对核碱基大小的限制似乎可能较小。在这里,我们报告了 xDNA 核苷
三磷酸酯的合成和研究,以及它们与 TdT 底物能力的研究。我们发现,根据稳态方法测量,这种聚合酶能以与天然核苷酸几乎相同的动力学效率结合四种 xDNA 单体中的每一种。可结合多达 30 个连续单体。在酶法结合扩增的
腺嘌呤(dx
ATP)和
胞嘧啶(dxCTP)类似物的过程中,可以观察到溶液中的荧光随时间的变化,而在结合后,当连接到
玻璃固体支持物上时,也可以观察到荧光随时间的变化。对于 (dxA)n 聚合物,观察到单体发射淬灭和长波长准分子发射。对于 (dxC)n,在聚合物中观察到荧光增强。利用 xDNA 的荧光和强杂交特性,TdT 介导的合成可能是在 DNA 上创建 xDNA 标签或标记的有用方法。