Where do dNTP come from? - Chemical or Biological? (May/11/2007 )
I have an itch that I must scratch. Most of us are familiar with PCR and dNTPs. But I come to wonder, where do dNTPs come form? How are they made? Is it by chemistry or are dNTPs somehow extracted and purified from biological sources?
p.s: From the shop isn't an answer 
I think it is chemically made instead of biologically. But not too sure.
Is there any biological source that has dNTP? 
interesting question... would it matter where it came from or how it was made? would that affect the end product?
It wouldnt make any effect. It is just dNTPs after all. Yea, it is very interesting to find out the sources. Good question, perneseblue. 
Some googling gave me this:
"12. What are the advantages of dNTP enzymatic synthesis over chemical synthesis?
The enzymatic synthesis of dNTPs uses highly specific enzymatic systems which eliminate impurities and PCR inhibitors, such as modified nucleotides, PPi and deoxynucleoside tetraphosphates. The presence of contaminants resulting from the chemical manufacturing process, such as traces of dNDPs, pyrophosphates or other ionic species (e.g. acetate) interfere with the PCR reaction and may lead to poor yields or no PCR product at all. Chemically synthesised dNTPs, unless thoroughly purified, often contain deoxynucleoside tetraphosphates, which are powerful PCR inhibitors. Chemical synthesis can also lead to deamination and other nucleotide modifications. This is not the case with enzymatic synthesis."
(http://www.labortechnik.com/produkte/produkte.php?k=6&pg=100#faq12)
So most likely you get biochemical synthesis?
I believe direct purification from biological sources would also lead to difficulties in getting 100% pure dATP, dGTP... without any contaminants.
Other ideas more than welcome, interesting question btw!
good Q. perneseblue 
i think it's chemically synthesized, but could be extracted biologically...
may be from a DNA strand which was "chopped" to single dNTPs 
Hmm, looking around on the net I can't find anything describing chemical synthesis of nucleotides. The brochure for a Fermentas dNTP mix states:
• Free of DNase, RNase and phosphatase activities
• Free of human and E.coli DNA
If I had to guess I'd say they grow a whole lot of E. coli and harvest them for DNA. Break up the DNA and you would get a heap of dNTPs. It might not be that hard to do, at least, easier than chemical synthesis (think how long the biosynthesis pathway is for the nucleotides!!)
• Free of DNase, RNase and phosphatase activities
• Free of human and E.coli DNA
If I had to guess I'd say they grow a whole lot of E. coli and harvest them for DNA. Break up the DNA and you would get a heap of dNTPs. It might not be that hard to do, at least, easier than chemical synthesis (think how long the biosynthesis pathway is for the nucleotides!!)
any idea on how you do that? we could save a LOT of money! heck, we'd even MAKE some in the process
Hmm... just think, each time you throw out an unwanted miniprep, gene fragment or PCR product, you could instead recycle the nucleotides!! I like this idea! But I don't know how feasible it is.
wouldn't you just use hydrolysis of DNA? it would be the reverse of dehydration synthesis... I would think that would be way easier than trying to build it by the atom. there are a ton of enzymes out there that will eat up DNA and spit out bits