Nucleoside 5'-triphosphates modified at sugar residues as substrates for calf thymus terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase and for AMV reverse transcriptase.

Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase from calf thymus and RNA-directed DNA polymerase (reverse transcriptase) from the avian myeloblastosis virus catalyze the incorporation of 3'-amino-2',3'-dideoxynucleoside 5'-triphosphates, as well as some of their 3'-derivatives, 3'-amino-3'-deoxyarabinonucleoside 5'-triphosphates and some other nucleoside 5'-triphosphates modified at sugar residues. After incorporation of the appropriate 5'-mononucleotide residue into the DNA, further chain elongation is blocked. This finding opens up a possibility for selective inhibition of DNA synthesis catalyzed by a certain enzyme.