Nonenzymatic sequence-specific cleavage of single-stranded DNA.

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid have been attached covalently to the 5' terminus of the deoxynucleotide sequence C-A-C-A-A-T-T-C-C-A-C-A-C-A-A-C (16-mer) via an ethylenediamine linker. In the presence of Fe2+ and dithiothreitol, these reagents bring about the hybridization-dependent cleavage of the sequence T-C-G-T-A-T-G-T-T-G-T-G-T-G-G-A-A-T-T-G-T-G-A-G-C-G-G-A-T-A-A-C-A-A-T-T- T (37-mer), a sequence that contains an internal subsequence complementary to the 16-mer. The principal cleavage sites on the 37-mer are about four residues on each side of the terminal phosphate group of the 16-mer.