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3691906 
Journal Article 
Reverse Transcription of Threose Nucleic Acid by a Naturally Occurring DNA Polymerase 
Dunn, MR; Chaput, JC 
2016 
Yes 
ChemBiochem
ISSN: 1439-4227
EISSN: 1439-7633 
17 
19 
1804-1808 
English 
27383648 
WOS:000385700900003 
Recent advances in polymerase engineering have enabled the replication of xenonucleic acid (XNA) polymers with backbone structures distinct from those found in nature. By introducing a selective amplification step into the replication cycle, functional XNA molecules have been isolated by in vitro selection with binding and catalytic activity. Despite these successes, coding and decoding genetic information in XNA polymers remains limited by the fidelity and catalytic efficiency of engineered XNA polymerases. In particular, the process of reverse transcribing XNA back into DNA for amplification by PCR has been problematic. Here, we show that Geobacillus stearothermophilus (Bst) DNA polymerase I functions as an efficient and faithful threose nucleic acid (TNA)-dependent DNA polymerase. Bst DNA polymerase generates ∼twofold more cDNA with threefold fewer mutations than Superscript II (SSII), which was previously the best TNA reverse transcriptase. Notably, Bst also functions under standard magnesium-dependent conditions, whereas SSII requires manganese ions to relax the enzyme's substrate specificity. We further demonstrate that Bst DNA polymerase can support the in vitro selection of TNA aptamers by evolving a TNA aptamer to human α-thrombin.