Polymerase-mediated synthesis of artificial RNA-DNA metal base pairs

Metal-mediated base pairs are formed by the connection of two nucleobases via coordination to a metal cation. The resulting metal-containing duplexes have been used in a large variety of applications ranging from allosteric control of functional nucleic acids to the construction of nanowires. Recently, enzymatic approaches are being developed for the construction of metal-mediated base pairs. Here, we have studied the possibility of constructing HgII- and AgI-mediated DNA/RNA hetero base pairs using primer extension reactions. The high kinetic and thermodynamic stabilities of metal base pairs can be harnessed to trigger the formation of multiple rU-HgII-dT base pairs.