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Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Nucleoside Triphosphates - From Synthesis to Biochemical Characterization
Published on: April 3, 2014
Influence of the linkage between leaving group and nucleoside on substrate efficiency for incorporation in DNA
1Rega Institute Laboratory for Medicinal Chemistry, Catholic University Leuven, Minderborederstraat 10, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
Abstract:
An amino acid deoxyadenosine phosphoramidate and the corresponding phosphodiester congener have been synthesized and tested for primer extension by HIV-1 reverse transcriptase. Replacement of the phosphoramidate linkage of L-histidine-dAMP by a phosphodiester linkage was found to have a beneficial influence on the affinity of this substrate towards HIV-1 reverse transcriptase and on the velocity of the nucleotide incorporation reaction. Modifications of the nature of the P--X bond can be useful to fine-tune the substrate properties of nucleoside triphosphate analogues. Our results also demonstrate that polymerization pausing observed during the incorporation of leaving group modified dNTPs is not caused by the nature of the linkage.
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