Chemical Primer Extension: Efficiently Determining Single Nucleotides in DNA

Rapid replication: Non-enzymatic primer extension has previously been studied in the context of prebiotic chemistry, but not for practical applications. Reactions with primers featuring a 3′-amino-2′,3′-dideoxynucleotide can be rapid and selective for all four templating nucleobases (see scheme). On a chip with immobilized capture strands, 500 fmol of template suffice for single-nucleotide determinations within 2.7 h.