Project hopes to produce DNA structures on a larger scale
21 Feb 2012
Southampton, UK- A team of chemists from the Universities of Southampton and Oxford have been awarded over £4m to develop a process for ‘clicking’ DNA and RNA segments together.
The scientists hope their research could enable the production of DNA and RNA structures more efficiently and on a larger scale than is possible using current enzyme-based technologies.
The project could also lead to the creation of previously “unimaginable molecular machines” with new industrial and medical uses, according to Southampton University.
Prof Tom Brown at Southampton University, who will jointly lead the project, said: “At the moment, synthesising long DNA molecules by chemical methods is slow and requires a great deal of skill.
“We have found that we can ‘click’ DNA and RNA segments together using chemical methods that can replace the enzymes. These chemical linkages are stronger and less choosy than enzymes and can be produced in large amounts for industrial scale applications.”
The ability to ‘click’ DNA together opens up the possibility of producing new DNA structures with a variety of useful chemical modifications for industrial uses in the bioeconomy, including in clinical applications.
The project is being funded by a strategic Longer and Larger (sLoLa) grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
