Reverse transcription through a bulky triazole linkage in RNA: implications for RNA sequencing

X. Chen, A. H. El-Sagheer and T. Brown. Chem. Commun. 50, 7597-7600, 2014.

Abstract

A triazole linkage is formed in RNA by untemplated strain-promoted or CuAAC chemical ligation of 3'-azide and 5'-cyclooctyne oligonucleotides under denaturing conditions. Reverse transcriptase reads through these artificial linkages with omission of one nucleotide. These surprising results have implications for RNA isolation, amplification, sequencing and a variety of biological applications.