A molecular beacon that incorporates components of an artificially expanded genetic information system (AEGIS) in its stem is shown not to be opened by unwanted stem invasion by adventitious standard DNA; this should improve the "darkness" of the beacon in real-world applications.

The use of DNA polymerases to incorporate phosphorothioate linkages into DNA, and the use of exonuclease III to determine where those linkages have been incorporated, are re- examined in this work. The results presented here show that exonuclease III degrades single- stranded DNA as a substrate and digests through phosphorothioate linkages having one absolute stereochemistry, assigned ( assuming inversion in the polymerase reaction) as S, but not the other absolute stereochemistry. This contrasts with a general view in the literature that exonuclease III favors double-stranded nucleic acid as a substrate and stops completely at phosphorothioate linkages. Furthermore, not all DNA polymerases appear to accept exclusively the ( R) stereoisomer of nucleoside alpha- thiotriphosphates [ and not the ( S) diastereomer], a conclusion inferred two decades ago by examination of five Family- A polymerases and a reverse transcriptase. This suggests that caution is appropriate when extrapolating the detailed behavior of one polymerase from the behaviors of other polymerases. Furthermore, these results provide constraints on how exonuclease III - thiotriphosphate - polymerase combinations can be used to analyze the behavior of the components of a synthetic biology.

DNA polymerases are identified that copy a nonstandard nucleotide pair joined by a hydrogen bonding pattern different from the patterns joining the dA:T and dG:dC pairs. 6-Amino-5-nitro3-(l'-p-D-2'-deoxyribofuranosyl)-2(1H)-pyridone (dZ) implements the non-standard 'small' donordonor-acceptor (pyDDA) hydrogen bonding pattern. 2-Amino-8-(1-beta-D-2'-deoxyribofuranosyl)imidazo[1,2-a]-1,3,5-triazin-4 (8H)-one [dP) implements the 'large' acceptor-acceptor-donor (puAAD) pattern. These nucleobases were designed to present electron density to the minor groove, density hypothesized to help determine specificity for polymerases. Consistent with this hypothesis, both dZTP and dPTP are accepted by many polymerases from both Families A and B. Further, the dZ:dP pair participates in PCR reactions catalyzed by Taq, Vent (exo(-)) and Deep Vent (exo-) polymerases, with 94.4%, 97.5% and 97.5%, respectively, retention per round. The dZ:dP pair appears to be lost principally via transition to a dC:dG pair. This is consistent with a mechanistic hypothesis that deprotonated dZ (presenting a pyDAA pattern) complements dG (presenting a puADD pattern), while protonated dC (presenting a pyDDA pattern) complements dP (presenting a puAAD pattern). This hypothesis, grounded in the Watson-Crick model for nucleobase pairing, was confirmed by studies of the pH-dependence of mismatching. The dZ:dP pair and these polymerases, should be useful in dynamic architectures for sequencing, molecular-, systems- and synthetic-biology.

To support efforts to develop a 'synthetic biology' based on an artificially expanded genetic information system (AEGIS), we have developed a route to two components of a non-standard nucleobase pair, the pyrimidine analog 6-amino-5-nitro-3-(1'-beta-D-2'-deoxyribofuranosyl)-2(1H)-pyridone (dZ) and its Watson-Crick complement, the purine analog 2-amino-8-(1'-beta-D-2'-deoxyribofuranosyl)-imidazo[1,2-a]-1,3,5-triazin -4(8H)-one (dP). These implement the pyDDA:puAAD hydrogen bonding pattern (where 'py' indicates a pyrimidine analog and 'pu' indicates a purine analog, while A and D indicate the hydrogen bonding patterns of acceptor and donor groups presented to the complementary nucleobases, from the major to the minor groove). Also described is the synthesis of the triphosphates and protected phosphoramidites of these two nucleosides. We also describe the use of the protected phosphoramidites to synthesize DNA oligonucleotides containing these AEGIS components, verify the absence of epimerization of dZ in those oligonucleotides, and report some hybridization properties of the dZ:dP nucleobase pair, which is rather strong, and the ability of each to effectively discriminate against mismatches in short duplex DNA.

This review provides a comprehensive survey of the "one pot glycosylation" (OPG) strategy for the chemical synthesis of oligosaccharides, covering literatures from the first example reported by Kahne and Raghavan in 1993 through May 2003. The essence of the OPG is to distinguish the reactivity difference of a pair of the glycosylation donors or acceptors so as to carry out two glycosylation steps sequentially without purification of the first-step coupling product. Accordingly, the literature reports are grouped based on the major stereoelectronic factors causing the reactivity differences, those include the "armed-disarmed effect", "orthogonality of leaving groups", "distinguishable acceptors", and "the hybrid". "The hybrid" OPG procedure takes advantage of a combination of the reactivity disparity of a set of the armed-disarmed donors, orthogonal leaving groups, as well as acceptors so as to proceed three or more steps of glycosylation sequentially in one pot. Relevant conception and exploitation of the reactivity differences of the donors and acceptors in the synthesis of oligosaccharides, which finally evolve the OPG or advance parallelly, are briefly described at the beginning.

Treatment of phenyl 2,3-O-cyclic ketene acetal- and 2,3-O-thionocarbonyl-1-thio-mannopyranosides with TMSOTf and MeOTf, respectively, gave the corresponding 2,3-O-cyclic dioxonium intermediates, which proceeded via 1-->2 migration and concurrent glycosidation in the presence of alcohols to provide the corresponding 2-S-phenyl glycosides stereoselectively. While the former donors were too labile, the latter donors have proved superior for the present purpose. The X-ray crystallographic structures of phenyl 4-O-methyl-2,3-O-thiocarbonyl-1-thio-alpha-L-rhamnopyranoside (1), a typical donor for the present reaction, and its anomeric azide analogue (6), which could not undergo the present reaction under similar conditions, are provided. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1,2-Migration and concurrent glycosidation of ethyl(phenyl) 2,3-orthoester-1-thio-alpha -D- and L-mannopyranosides under the action of TMSOTf readily afforded the corresponding 2-S-ethyl(phenyl)-2-thio-beta -glucopyranosides ready precursors to 2-deoxy-arabino-hexopyranosides (2-deoxy-beta -glucopyranosides). (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

[GRAPHICS] 1,2-Migration and concurrent glycosidation of phenyl 2,3-O-thionocarbonyl 1-thio-alpha -L-rhamnopyranosides under the action of methyl trifluoromethanesulfonate (MeOTf) afforded in high yields the 3-O-(methylthio)carbonyl-2-S-phenyl-2,6-dideoxy-beta -L-glucopyranosides ready precursors to the corresponding 2-deoxy-beta -glycosides.

The identification of cross-over products in the rearrangement of two structurally similar sugar 1,2-orthoesters to glycosidic products is reported. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1,2-Migration and concurrent glycosidation of ethyl(phenyl) 2,3-orthoester-1-thio-alpha-1-rhamnopyranosides under the action of TMSOTf readily afforded the corresponding 2-S-ethyl(phenyl)-2-deoxy-beta-glycosides, ready precursors to 2-deoxy-beta-glycosides. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.