Deoxyribozymes: DNA catalysts for bioorganic chemistry

Deoxyribozymes are DNA molecules with catalytic activity. For historical and practical reasons, essentially all reported deoxyribozymes catalyze reactions of nucleic acid substrates, although this is probably not a fundamental limitation. In vitro selection strategies have been used to identify many deoxyribozymes that catalyze RNA cleavage, RNA and DNA ligation, and a variety of covalent modification reactions of nucleic acid substrates. Many deoxyribozymes are capable of catalysis with substantial rate enhancements reaching up to 10¹⁰-fold over background, and their very high selectivities would often be difficult or impossible to achieve using traditional organic synthesis approaches. This report summarizes the current utility and potential future applications of deoxyribozymes from the bioorganic chemistry perspective.