Ab initio DNA synthesis accelerated by endonuclease.

In the presence of an endonuclease that digests double-stranded DNA, DNA polymerase efficiently synthesizes and amplifies DNA from dNTPs in the absence of any added template and primer nucleic acid. This cut-polymerization DNA synthesis (Cut-grow) can be carried out under a wide range of temperature (4-85 degrees C) by many endonucleases and DNA polymerases. The high efficiency of Cut-grow results from an efficient exponential amplification involving digestion-elongation cycles. Our findings suggest that digestion of nucleic acids may play an important role during the evolution of genetic material for procreating the diversification of genetic information on the early earth.