Universal bases for hybridization, replication and chain termination

M. Berger, Y. Wu, A.K. Ogawa, D.L. McMinn, P.G. Schultz, F.E. Romesberg, Nucleic Acids Res. (2000) 28:2911-2914.
The reported unnatural, predominantly hydrophobic nucleoside analogs are efficient ‘universal bases’ for hybridization, template directed DNA synthesis and chain termination. Moreover, several of the universal bases function in their biological role, hybridization or replication, with an efficiency not significantly reduced relative to their natural counterparts.