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MRNA synthesis proceeds via one-by-one addition of appropriate (i.e., complementary to the template DNA strand) ribonucleotides (rNTPs) to the 3’-end. The phosphodiester bond (PO 3-4 ) is formed by an SN2 reaction in which the hydroxyl group at the 3’-end of the mRNA attacks the α-phosphoryl group of the incoming rNTP (Fig. 1) (Watson et al. 2008). Pyrophosphate is released from rNTP upon phosphodiester bond formation.
(a) The structure of a ribonucleoside triphosphate is shown; (b) A schematic view of the SN2 reaction that catalyzes phosphodiester bond formation in mRNA. Note that the template DNA strand already contains the phosphodiester bond (red circle) as DNA is extended during the replication process via the same SN2 reaction
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Watson JD, Baker TA, Bell SP, Gann A, Levine M, Losick R (2008) Molecular biology of the gene, 6th edn. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, NY, 197
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Kokubo, T. (2013). Phosphodiester Bond Formation. In: Dubitzky, W., Wolkenhauer, O., Cho, KH., Yokota, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Systems Biology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9863-7_1598
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9863-7_1598
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-9862-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-9863-7
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