High-Molecular-Weight Polynucleotides by Transferase-Catalyzed Living Chain-Growth Polycondensation |
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Authors: | Dr Lei Tang Luis A Navarro Jr Prof Ashutosh Chilkoti Prof Stefan Zauscher |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Duke University, 144 Hudson Hall Box 90300, Durham, NC, 27708 USA;2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, USA |
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Abstract: | We present terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-catalyzed enzymatic polymerization (TcEP) for the template-free synthesis of high-molecular-weight, single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) and demonstrate that it proceeds by a living chain-growth polycondensation mechanism. We show that the molecular weight of the reaction products is nearly monodisperse, and can be manipulated by the feed ratio of nucleotide (monomer) to oligonucleotide (initiator), as typically observed for living polymerization reactions. Understanding the synthesis mechanism and the reaction kinetics enables the rational, template-free synthesis of ssDNA that can be used for a range of biomedical and nanotechnology applications. |
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Keywords: | DNA enzyme kinetics polyelectrolytes polymerization reaction mechanisms |
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