Random-sequence genetic oligomer pools display an innate potential for ligation and recombination

Recombination, the exchange of information between different genetic polymer strands, is of fundamental importance in biology for genome maintenance and genetic diversification mediated by dedicated recombinase enzymes. Here, we describe a pervasive non-enzymatic capacity for recombination (and ligation) in random-sequence genetic oligomer pools. Specifically, we examine random and semi-random eicosamer (N20) pools of RNA, DNA and the unnatural genetic polymers ANA (arabino-), HNA (hexitol-) and AtNA (altritol-nucleic acids). While DNA, ANA and HNA pools proved inert, RNA and AtNA pools displayed diverse modes of spontaneous intermolecular recombination, connecting recombination mechanistically to the vicinal ring cis-diol configuration shared by RNA and AtNA. Thus, the chemical constitution that renders both susceptible to hydrolysis emerges as the fundamental determinant of an innate capacity for recombination, which is shown to enable a concomitant increase in compositional, informat...基因重组（Recombination）指不同遗传聚合物链之间的信息交换，在生物学中对于基因组维持与经专一性重组酶介导的遗传多样化具有核心重要性。本研究报道了随机序列遗传寡聚体库中普遍存在的非酶促重组（与连接）能力。具体而言，我们研究了RNA、DNA以及非天然遗传聚合物ANA（阿拉伯糖核酸，arabino-）、HNA（己糖醇核酸，hexitol-）和AtNA（阿卓糖醇核酸，altritol-nucleic acids）的随机与半随机二十聚体（N20）库。实验结果显示，DNA、ANA与HNA库表现为惰性，而RNA和AtNA库则展现出多种形式的自发分子间重组，从机制上将重组与RNA和AtNA共有的邻位环式顺式二醇结构关联起来。因此，使二者均易发生水解的化学组成，成为重组先天能力的核心决定因素；该能力可带来组成与信息层面的同步提升……