Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 8, 2026

Nucleoside Triphosphates - From Synthesis to Biochemical Characterization
Published on: April 3, 2014
Incorporation of zebularine from its 2'-deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate derivative and activity as a template-coding
Casimir L Dowd1, Brian T Sutch, Ian S Haworth
1Department of Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA.
Abstract:
Zebularine (1-(beta-D-ribofuranosyl)-1,2-dihydropyrimidin-2-one) was studied as both a 2 '-deoxyribosyl 5 '-triphosphate derivative and as a template incorporated into an oligonucleotide. Using a novel pyrosequencing assay, zebularine acted as cytosine analog and was incorporated into DNA with a template pairing profile most similar to cytosine, pairing with greatest efficiency opposite guanine in the template strand. Guanine was incorporated with greater affinity than adenine opposite a zebularine in the template strand. Computer modeling of base-pairing structures supported a better fit of zebularine opposite guanine than adenine. Zebularine acts as a cytosine analog, which supports its activity as an inhibitor of cytosine methyltransferase.
Related Concept Videos
Antiviral Nucleoside Inhibitors
Biosynthesis of Nucleic Acids
Inhibitors of Bacterial DNA Synthesis
Maxam-Gilbert Sequencing
Challenges of the Maxam-Gilbert Method
The...
DNA as a Genetic Template
DNA as a Genetic Template

