Enzymatic Synthesis of Phosphonomethyl Oligonucleotides by Therminator Polymerase

Therminator is the hero when it comes to the enzymatic production of phosphonomethyl–threosyl oligonucleotides with a non-natural 3′–2′ linkage (see scheme). The ability of Therminator polymerase to catalyze the condensation of diphosphate derivatives of nucleosides to give modified oligomers promises to be quite general. Such oligonucleotides are useful tools in synthetic biology because of the innate stability of the phosphonate linkage.