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Synlett 2018; 29(11): 1405-1414
DOI: 10.1055/s-0036-1591959
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© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Expanding the Chemical Diversity of DNA

Chun Guo
a   Department of Chemistry, University of Georgia, 140 Cedar Street, Athens, Georgia, 30602, USA
,
Dehui Kong
a   Department of Chemistry, University of Georgia, 140 Cedar Street, Athens, Georgia, 30602, USA
,
Yi Lei
a   Department of Chemistry, University of Georgia, 140 Cedar Street, Athens, Georgia, 30602, USA
,
Ryan Hili  *
a   Department of Chemistry, University of Georgia, 140 Cedar Street, Athens, Georgia, 30602, USA
b   Department of Chemistry and Centre for Research on Biomolecular Interactions, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada   Email: rhili@yorku.ca
› Author AffiliationsFinancial support for this work was provided by the National Science Foundation (1506667), the National Institutes of Health (­R21CA207711), the University of Georgia, and York University.
Further Information

Publication History

Received: 04 January 2018

Accepted after revision: 21 February 2018

Publication Date:
20 March 2018 (online)

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Abstract

Nucleic acid polymers can be evolved to exhibit desired properties, including molecular recognition of a molecular target and catalysis of a specific reaction. These properties can be readily evolved despite the dearth of chemical diversity available to nucleic acid polymers, especially when compared to the rich chemical complexity of proteins. Expansion of nucleic acid chemical diversity has therefore been an important thrust for improving their properties for analytical and biomedical applications. Herein, we briefly describe the current state-of-the-art for the sequence-defined incorporation of modifications throughout an evolvable nucleic acid polymer. This includes contributions from our own lab, which have expanded the chemical diversity of nucleic acid polymers closer to the level observed in proteinogenic polymers.

1 Introduction

2 Polymerase-Catalyzed Synthesis of Modified Nucleic Acid ­Polymers

3 Ligase-Catalyzed Oligonucleotide Polymerization (LOOPER)

4 LOOPER with Small Modifications

5 LOOPER with Large Modifications

6 Evolution of Aptamers Derived from LOOPER Libraries

7 Outlook

Key words

modified nucleic acids - modified aptamers - sequence-­defined polymers - ligase - in vitro selection - molecular evolution