Phosphorothioates in molecular biology
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Updated: Oct 25, 2026

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Nucleoside Triphosphates - From Synthesis to Biochemical Characterization
Published on: April 3, 2014
Trends in Biochemical Sciences
|March 1, 1989
Abstract:
The observation that phosphorothioate analogues of the nucleoside triphosphates are substrates for DNA- and RNA-polymerases has proven a boon for the molecular biologist. As these phosphorothioate-containing polymers are stable to degradation by nucleases and the sulfur atom confers many favourable chemical properties, several applications in molecular biology have been developed, including new methods for site-directed mutagenesis and DNA sequencing.
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