A unified Watson-Crick geometry drives transcription of six-letter expanded DNA alphabets by E. coli RNA polymerase
Juntaek Oh, Zelin Shan, Shuichi Hoshika, Jun Xu, Jenny Chong, Steven A. Benner, Dmitry Lyumkis, Dong Wang · 2023
Read A unified Watson-Crick geometry drives transcription of six-letter expanded DNA alphabets by E. coli RNA polymerase by Juntaek Oh, Zelin Shan, Shuichi Hoshika, Jun Xu, Jenny Chong, Steven A. Benner, Dmitry Lyumkis, Dong Wang (2023) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-10716388.txt.
Description
Juntaek Oh and seven co-authors show how a bacterial RNA polymerase reads a six-letter DNA alphabet, in work from 2023. Expanded genetic systems add synthetic base pairs beside the natural two, but whether cell machinery would accept them was open. Cryo-electron microscopy caught the Escherichia coli enzyme mid-step on templates carrying the unnatural pair.
At the active site the synthetic pair sat in ordinary Watson-Crick shape, and the enzyme's trigger loop folded as it does for natural pairs. The same recognition rules govern both, which validates the design logic of the expanded alphabet. The images also support an old idea that copying errors arise through base tautomer shifts.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Juntaek Oh, Zelin Shan, Shuichi Hoshika, Jun Xu, Jenny Chong, Steven A. Benner, Dmitry Lyumkis, Dong Wang |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2023 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 45 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |