Compatibility and Fidelity of Mirror-Image Thymidine in Transcription Events by T7 RNA Polymerase

Due to highly enzymatic d-stereoselectivity, l-nucleotides (l-2′-deoxynucleoside 5′-triphosphates [l-dNTPs]) are not natural targets of polymerases. In this study, we synthesized series of l-thymidine (l-T)-modified DNA strands and evaluated the processivity of nucleotide incorporation for transcription by T7 RNA polymerase (RNAP) with an l-T-containing template. When single l-T was introduced into the transcribed region, transcription proceeded to afford the full-length transcript with different efficiencies. However, introduction of l-T into the non-transcribed region did not exhibit a noticeable change in the transcription efficiency. Surprisingly, when two consecutive or internal l-Ts were introduced into the transcribed region, no transcripts were detected. Compared to natural template, significant lags in NTP incorporation into the template T+4/N and T+7/N (where the number corresponds to the site of l-T position, and + means downstream of the transcribed region) were detected by kinetic analysis. Furthermore, affinity of template T+4/N was almost the same with T/N, whereas affinity of T+7/N was apparently increased. Furthermore, no mismatch opposite to l-T in the template was detected in transcription reactions via gel fidelity analysis. These results demonstrate the effects of chiral l-T in DNA on the efficiency and fidelity of RNA transcription mediated by T7 RNAP, which provides important knowledge about how mirror-image thymidine perturbs the flow of genetic information during RNA transcription and development of diseases caused by gene mutation.