Catalytic DNA Polymerization Can Be Expedited by Active Product Release**

Abstract

The sequence‐specific hybridization of DNA facilitates its use as a building block for designer nanoscale structures and reaction networks that perform computations. However, the strong binding energy of Watson–Crick base pairing that underlies this specificity also causes the DNA dehybridization rate to depend sensitively on sequence length and temperature. This strong dependency imposes stringent constraints on the design of multi‐step DNA reactions. Here we show how an ATP‐dependent helicase, Rep‐X, can drive specific dehybridization reactions at rates independent of sequence length, removing the constraints of equilibrium on DNA hybridization and dehybridization. To illustrate how this new capacity can speed up designed DNA reaction networks, we show that Rep‐X extends the range of conditions where the primer exchange reaction, which catalytically adds a domain provided by a hairpin template to a DNA substrate, proceeds rapidly.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Apr 20, 2022
Source ID
10.1002/anie.202114581

Entities

People

  • Momcilo Gavrilov
  • Pepijn G Moerman
  • Rebecca Schulman
  • Taekjip Ha

Organizations

  • American Institute of Physics
  • Army Research Office
  • Canadian Network for Research and Innovation in Machining Technology, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • Johns Hopkins University
  • National Institutes of Health
  • Office of Basic Energy Sciences
  • United States Department of Energy

Tags

Readers

  • Electrochemical Engineering/ Fuel Cell Technologies
  • Molecular Genetics
  • Systems Analysis and Design