Enzymatic formation of consecutive thymine–HgII–thymine base pairs by DNA polymerases

From the perspective of the preparation of a DNA-based nanowire containing an array of metal ions, DNA-polymerase-catalyzed primer extension reactions were investigated and the formation of up to ten consecutive T–HgII–T base pairs was achieved by the HgII-mediated primer extension reaction in the presence of MnII ions. This enzymatic approach may be one of the promising techniques for preparing a DNA-based metal array.