Enzymatic synthesis of uniformly 32P-labeled polyribonucleotides and high-specific-activity ribonucleoside 5'-[alpha-32P]diphosphates.

Uniformly 32P-labeled polyribonucleotides of high specific activity can be rapidly and easily synthesized from commercially available ribonucleoside 5'-[alpha-32P]triphosphates by using two enzymes in sequence. Myosin ATPase completely and irreversibly converted any triphosphates to diphosphates in 10 min. The product diphosphates, without purification, can be polymerized by polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase) in 1 h with an average yield of 60%. By choosing the desired molar ratio of radioactive and nonradioactive tri- or diphosphates, polymers of a wide range of specific activity can be obtained. Since myosin ATPase and PNPase both have little base specificity, the method can be used to synthesize a radiolabeled polymer of any desired base composition.