Electrophoretic behavior of oligonucleotides containing 5-hydroxymethyl cytosine

³²P-labeled oligonucleotides from a pancreatic DNase digest of non-glucosylated T2 gt^? DNA have been analyzed by high voltage electrophoresis (both before and after dephosphorylation of the 5′ terminus). T2 gt^? oligonucleotides, which contain 5-hydroxymethyl cytosine (hm⁵C) in place of cytosine (C), have altered electrophoretic mobilities compared to fd DNA oligonucleotides (which contain C). In addition, we have observed that pancreatic DNase exhibits a marked cleavage specificity; i.e., hm⁵C is the predominant 5′ terminal residue in the hm⁵C-containing oligonucleotides we have characterized.