The use of synthetic oligodeoxyribonucleotides as tools for the isolation, characterization and mutagenesis of eukaryote genes has played a major role in the molecular definition of the CYC1 locus of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is the structural gene for the apoprotein of iso-1-cytochrome c. Thus, the possibility of using a synthetic oligodeoxyribonucleotide as a probe to identify and monitor the isolation of a specific gene was first established by model studies which defined the melting temperatures (TmS) for duplexes of oligonucleotides of different lengths and base compositions. This led to the isolation of the CYC1 locus using a synthetic 13 nucleotide probe. A more convenient strategy for determination of DNA sequences by the Sanger method was provided by using synthetic oligodeoxyribonucleotides as primers with denatured double-strand plasmid DNA as template. By this means, the sequence of the CYC1 locus was determined by "walking" along the gene without isolating restriction fragments of the DNA or separating DNA strands. Synthetic oligodeoxyribonucleotides, used as primers for reverse transcriptase with mRNA as template, were also used to precisely define the 5'- and 3'-ends of the iso-1-cytochrome c mRNA. Yet another application of synthetic oligodeoxyribonucleotides is their use as specific mutagens after in vitro incorporation into double-stranded DNA. In the case of iso-1-cytochrome c, this mutagenic strategy is being used to define the role of conserved amino-acids in cytochrome function.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

• PMID: 3002492
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Journal Article | Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

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Smith M

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