title: Initiation of the microgene polymerization reaction with non-repetitive homo-duplexes.
abstract: Microgene Polymerization Reaction (MPR) is used as an experimental system to artificially simulate evolution of short, non-repetitive homo-duplex DNA into multiply-repetitive products that can code for functional proteins. Blunt-end ligation by DNA polymerase is crucial in expansion of homo-duplexes (HDs) into head-to-tail multiple repeats in MPR. The propagation mechanism is known, but formation of the initial doublet (ID) by juxtaposing two HDs and polymerization through the gap has been ambiguous. Initiation events with pairs of HDs using Real-Time PCR were more frequent at higher HD concentrations and slightly below the melting temperature. A process molecularity of about 3.1, calculated from the amplification efficiency and the difference in PCR cycles at which propagation was detected at varying HD concentrations, led to a simple mechanism for ID formation: the gap between two HDs is bridged by a third. Considering thermodynamic aspects of the presumed intermediate "nucleation complex" can predict relative propensity for the process with other HDs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, PO Box 653, Be'er-Sheva 84105, Israel.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Itsko
authors.forename: Arieh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zaritsky
authors.forename: Avinoam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rabinovitch
authors.forename: Eitan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ben-Dov
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D003198:Computer Simulation; D019020:Directed Molecular Evolution; D008832:Microchemistry / Q000379:methods*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009841:Oligonucleotides / Q000235:genetics*; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D009841:Oligonucleotides; C448220:alpha-homo-DNA