Nucleotide probes of DNA polymerases.

The modified nucleotides, N2-(p-n-butylphenyl)dGTP and 2-(p-n-butylanilino) dATP and related compounds have been developed as inhibitor-probes of B family DNA polymerases. Synthetic approaches to these compounds are summarized. The nucleotides are potent, non-substrate inhibitors of DNA polymerase a. In contrast, they inhibit other members of the family with less potency but act as substrates for these enzymes. Modelling of the inhibitor: enzyme binding mechanism has been done based on the known structure of E. coli DNA polymerase I, and site-directed mutagenesis experiments to evaluate this mechanism are proposed.