Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow Print PDF (107K) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (15)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Commercial Re-use Guidelines
for Open Access NAR Content
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ogata, N.
Right arrow Articles by Miura, T.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ogata, N.
Right arrow Articles by Miura, T.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Nucleic Acids Research, Vol 26, Issue 20 4657-4661, Copyright © 1998 by Oxford University Press

ARTICLES

Creation of genetic information by DNA polymerase of the thermophilic bacterium Thermus thermophilus

N Ogata and T Miura
Taiko Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Uchihonmachi 3-34-14, Suita, Osaka, Japan.

Genetic information encoded in a template of a genome is replicated in a complementary way by DNA polymerase or RNA polymerase with high fidelity; no creation of information occurs in this reaction unless an error occurs. We report here that DNA polymerase of the thermophilic bacterium Thermus thermophilus can synthesize up to 200 kb linear double-stranded DNA in vitro in the complete absence of added primer and template DNAs, indicating that genetic information is actively created by protein. This ab initio DNA synthesis occurs at 74 degrees C and requires magnesium ion. There is a lag time of approximately 1 h and then the reaction proceeds linearly. The synthesized DNAs have a variety of sequences; they are mostly tandem repetitive sequences, e.g. (CATGTATA) n , (TGTATGTATACATACATA) n and (TATACGTA) n . Some degenerate sequences of these basic repeat units are also found. The similar repetitive sequences are found in many natural genes. These results, together with similar results found using DNA polymerase of archaeon Thermococcus litoralis , suggest that creative, non- replicative synthesis of DNA by protein was a driving force for diversification of genetic information at a certain stage of the evolution of life on the early earth.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Nucleic Acids ResHome page
N. Ogata and H. Morino
Elongation of repetitive DNA by DNA polymerase from a hyperthermophilic bacterium Thermus thermophilus
Nucleic Acids Res., October 15, 2000; 28(20): 3999 - 4004.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.