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Science 6 November 1998:
Vol. 282. no. 5391, pp. 1020 - 1021
DOI: 10.1126/science.282.5391.1020b
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News of the Week

CATALYSIS:
Chemical Accessories Give DNA New Talents

Robert F. Service

Chemists and biologists have long attempted to create hybrid molecules that are both chemically adept, like proteins, and easy to copy and vary, like DNA--properties that might enable researchers to "evolve" valuable new catalysts--but they have been stymied because the enzyme that copies DNA, called DNA polymerase, balks when it encounters a modified DNA building block. Now two groups have managed to outwit the finicky enzymes, opening the door to a new family of DNA-based catalysts and raising questions of whether such molecular hybrids could have played a role in the evolution of life. Although neither of the new experiments actually shows that hybrid DNA-protein molecules can catalyze chemical reactions, they are getting very close, according to some researchers.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)