Enzymatic Synthesis of Organic-Polymer-Grafted DNA

To create bioorganic hybrid materials, interdisciplinary work in the fields of chemistry, biology and materials science is conducted. DNA block copolymers are promising hybrid materials due to the combination of properties intrinsic to both the polymer and the nucleic acid blocks. Until now, the coupling of DNA and organic polymers has been exercised post-synthetically in solution or on solid support. Herein, we report the first enzyme-catalysed synthesis of DNA-organic polymer chimeras. For this purpose, four novel 2'-deoxyuridine triphosphates carrying polymer-like moieties linked to the nucleobase were synthesised. Linear polyethylene glycol monomethyl ethers of different sizes (1) and branched polyamido dendrons with varying terminal groups (2) were chosen as building blocks. We investigated the ability of DNA polymerases to accept the copolymers in comparison to the natural substrate and showed, through primer extensions, polymerase chain reactions and rolling circle amplification, that these building blocks could serve as a surrogate for the natural thymidine. By this method, DNA hybrid materials with high molecular weight, modification density, and defined structure are accessible.