Rapid and efficient DNA strand cross-linking by click chemistry

P. Kocalka, A. H. El-Sagheer and T. Brown. ChemBioChem 9 (8), 1280-1285, 2008.

One of the most accessed papers on the ChemBioChem web site in 2008.

Abstract

Click chemistry has been used to covalently cross-link complementary DNA strands between bases to form very stable duplexes. Several alkyne- and azide-modified uracil monomers were used to evaluate the effect of the linkers on the efficiency of the click reaction. All cross-linked duplexes had much higher thermal stabilities than non-cross-linked ones, with increases in melting temperature of up to 30 degrees C. In some cases, the conversion was near-quantitative, and the reaction was complete in 5 min.