Incorporation of 4-thiothymidine into DNA by the Klenow fragment and HIV-1 reverse transcriptase.

The 5'-triphosphate of 4-thiothymidine (4S-TTP) is an excellent substrate for the Klenow fragment of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase 1 and HIV-1 reverse transcriptase with values of k(cat)/Km within a factor of approximately 3 of those for TTP. A large UV change (deltaepsilon= -9770 M(-1)cm(-1) at 340 nm) associated with incorporation of 4S-TMP into nucleic acid duplexes makes possible a rapid, continuous spectrophotometric assay of the reaction progress.