Chemoenzymatic Installation of Site-Specific Chemical Groups on DNA Enhances the Catalytic Activity

Functional DNAs are valuable molecular tools in chemical biology and analytical chemistry but suffer from low activities due to their limited chemical functionalities. Here, we present a chemoenzymatic method for site-specific installation of diverse functional groups on DNA, and showcase the application of this method to enhance the catalytic activity of a DNA catalyst. Through chemoenzymatic introduction of distinct chemical groups, such as hydroxyl, carboxyl, and benzyl, at specific positions, we achieve significant enhancements in the catalytic activity of the RNA-cleaving deoxyribozyme 10–23. A single carboxyl modification results in a 100-fold increase, while dual modifications (carboxyl and benzyl) yield an approximately 700-fold increase in activity when an RNA cleavage reaction is catalyzed on a DNA–RNA chimeric substrate. The resulting dually modified DNA catalyst, CaBn, exhibits a kobs of 3.76 min–1 in the presence of 1 mM Mg2+ and can be employed for fluorescent imaging of intracellular magnesium ions. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal the superior capability of CaBn to recruit magnesium ions to metal-ion-binding site 2 and adopt a catalytically competent conformation. Our work provides a broadly accessible strategy for DNA functionalization with diverse chemical modifications, and CaBn offers a highly active DNA catalyst with immense potential in chemistry and biotechnology.