Nucleic acid synthesis is the assembly of DNA or RNA polymers from nucleotide building blocks through the formation of phosphodiester bonds between the sugar and phosphate of successive residues. It occurs by two broad routes. Template-directed synthesis, the basis of biological replication and transcription, uses a…
Nucleic acid synthesis is the assembly of DNA or RNA polymers from nucleotide building blocks through the formation of phosphodiester bonds between the sugar and phosphate of successive residues. It occurs by two broad routes. Template-directed synthesis, the basis of biological replication and transcription, uses an existing strand to specify the order of incoming nucleotides through complementary base pairing, catalyzed by DNA and RNA polymerases that add residues in the five-prime to three-prime direction. Template-independent synthesis instead builds sequences without a pre-existing template, as performed enzymatically by terminal transferases or chemically by solid-phase phosphoramidite coupling, enabling the controlled construction of oligonucleotides and combinatorial nucleic acid libraries. Synthetic and amplified nucleic acids underpin much of molecular biology and biotechnology: primers and probes for the polymerase chain reaction, gene fragments for cloning and synthetic biology, antisense and short interfering oligonucleotides, aptamers, and functional nucleic acids used in detection assays such as genetically modified organism screening. Fidelity, yield, length, and the incorporation of modified or labeled nucleotides are key parameters, and chemical synthesis allows non-natural backbones and reporter groups unavailable to enzymatic routes. As the means of generating defined genetic material on demand, nucleic acid synthesis is foundational to research, diagnostics, gene editing, and the design of nucleic acid therapeutics.
6 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.
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