Improvements in the chain-termination method of DNA sequencing through the use of 7-deaza-2′-deoxyadenosine

Significant improvements in the quality of DNA sequencing data have been shown when deoxyadenosine triphosphate (dATP) is replaced by 7-deaza-2'-deoxyadenosine triphosphate (c7dATP). The use of c7dATP in conjunction with 7-deaza-2'-deoxyguanosine triphosphate (c7dGTP) further decreases anomalies in electrophoretic mobility which are caused by compressions involving G and/or A residues. This effect is observed for both isotope-based and fluorescence-based sequencing approaches. Replacing dATP with c7dATP also results in a higher degree of uniformity in the frequency of chain termination reactions, when such terminations involve the incorporation of fluorescence-labeled dideoxynucleotides by T7 polymerase. These improvements in the gel-resolution and distribution of chain-terminated DNA products result in higher accuracy in both manual and automated base assignment.