Synthesis and Nonenzymatic Template-Directed Polymerization of 2′-Amino-2′-deoxythreose Nucleotides

Threose nucleic acid (TNA) is a potential alternative genetic material that may have played a role in the early evolution of life. We have developed a novel synthesis of 2'-amino modified TNA nucleosides (2'-NH2-TNA) based on a cycloaddition reaction between a glycal and an azodicarboxylate, followed by direct nucleosidation of the cycloadduct. Using this route, we synthesized the thymine and guanine 2'-NH2-TNA nucleosides in seven steps with 24% and 12% overall yield, respectively. We then phosphorylated the guanine nucleoside on the 3'-hydroxyl, activated the phosphate as the 2-methylimidazolide, and tested the ability of the activated nucleotide to copy C-4 RNA, DNA, and TNA templates by nonenzymatic primer extension. We measured pseudo-first-order rate constants for the first nucleotide addition step of 1.5, 0.97, and 0.57 h on RNA, DNA, and TNA templates, respectively, at pH 7.5 and 4 degrees C with 150 mM NaCl, 100 mM N-(hydroxylethyl)imidazole catalyst, and 5 mM activated nucleotide. The activated nucleotide hydrolyzed with a rate constant of 0.39 h(-1), causing the polymerization reaction to stall before complete template copying could be achieved. These extension rates are more than 1 order of magnitude slower than those for amino-sugar ribonucleotides under the same conditions, and copying of the TNA template, which best represented a true self-copying reaction, was the slowest of all. The poor kinetics of 2'-NH2-TNA template copying could give insight into why TNA was ultimately not used as a genetic material by biological systems.