The template properties of some oligodeoxynucleotides containing cytidine and guanosine

Summary the co-condensation of guanosine- and cytidine-5-phospho-2-methylimidazolide on various oligodeoxynucleotides containing C and G has been studied. We find that GC₇ is an effective template for the incorporation of C into products of the form G_nC, whereas C₇G does not act as a template for C incorporation. The template C₃GC₃GC₃GC₃ directs the synthesis of complementary products, but the yield of long oligomers is very small. Templates in which G residues are contiguous or separated by a single C residue are ineffective, while templates containing the sequence GCCG are very inefficient. The significance of these findings in the context of prebiotic chemistry is discussed.