title: Kinetics of repeat propagation in the microgene polymerization reaction.
abstract: Repetitive DNA is a periodic copolymer with the intrinsic property of exponential propagation to longer repeats. Microgene polymerization reaction (MPR) is a model system in which a short nonrepetitive homo-duplex DNA evolves to multiple repetitive products during heat-cool cycles. The mechanism underlying this process involves staggered annealing of complementary DNA strands of variable lengths and polymerase-mediated filling-in of the generated overhangs. MPR is considered here as a process sharing common features with two polymerization types, chain-growth and step-growth, and significant distinctions from both types were highlighted. The involved reaction stages were formulated and a kinetic model was derived and tested experimentally. The model can quantitatively explain MPR propagation and be used as a good approximation for this phenomenon.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva 84105, Israel. itskom@niehs.nih.gov
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Itsko
authors.forename: Avinoam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rabinovitch
authors.forename: Arieh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zaritsky
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D007700:Kinetics; D008956:Models, Chemical; D021141:Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D004247:DNA