Synthesis of compositionally unique DNA by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase

Abstract

Studies on the composition and characterization of DNA product(s) synthesized by calf thymus terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase were performed using homopolymeric single-stranded, calf thymus double-stranded, and native DNA resident in calf thymus chromatin preparations as priming DNA species. Synthesis was carried out using equimolar concentrations of all four deoxynucleoside triphosphates as substrates and Mg2+ or Mn2+ as an effective divalent cation. Irrespective of the nature of the priming DNA or the divalent cation, the DNA product contained 60-70% dGMP residues, 10-15% each of the two pyrimidine residues, and 5-10% dAMP residues. The product synthesized using chromatin DNA as initiator was predominantly single-stranded and its synthesis was resistant to actinomycin D. The predilection of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase to synthesize dGMP-rich products on natural or homopolymeric DNA primers suggests that such products may represent biologically important recognition signal sequences.