Abstract.
Nonenzymatic oligomerization reactions represent a model for studying the prebiotic replication of informational macromolecules. To explore the fitness of acyclic oligonucleotides in these reactions, we have synthesized a series of DNA hairpins appended with templates incorporating atactic glyceryl cytosine residues. Atactic glyceryl cytosine units are found to impede, but not to block, template-directed oligomerization of guanosine 5′-phosphoro-2-methylimidazole (2-MeImpG). Evidence suggests that both D and L glyceryl nucleoside configurations at a given template position contribute to product formation. The stability of DNA duplexes bearing isolated glyceryl cytosine residues has also been investigated. Duplex thermal denaturation experiments indicate that an atactic glyC · dG base-pair is intermediate in stability between a dC · dG pair and a dT · dG mismatch.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Received: 2 May 2000 / Accepted: 1 August 2000
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chaput, J., Switzer, C. Nonenzymatic Oligomerization on Templates Containing Phosphodiester-Linked Acyclic Glycerol Nucleic Acid Analogues. J Mol Evol 51, 464–470 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002390010109
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002390010109