PNA hybridizes to complementary oligonucleotides obeying the Watson-Crick hydrogen-bonding rules

TY - JOUR

T1 - PNA hybridizes to complementary oligonucleotides obeying the Watson-Crick hydrogen-bonding rules

AU - Buchardt, O

AU - Freier, S M

AU - Driver, D A

AU - Kim, S K

AU - Norden, B

AU - Nielsen, Peter E.

PY - 1993/10/7

Y1 - 1993/10/7

N2 - DNA analogues are currently being intensely investigated owing to their potential as gene-targeted drugs. Furthermore, their properties and interaction with DNA and RNA could provide a better understanding of the structural features of natural DNA that determine its unique chemical, biological and genetic properties. We recently designed a DNA analogue, PNA, in which the backbone is structurally homomorphous with the deoxyribose backbone and consists of N-(2-aminoethyl)glycine units to which the nucleobases are attached. We showed that PNA oligomers containing solely thymine and cytosine can hybridize to complementary oligonucleotides, presumably by forming Watson-Crick-Hoogsteen (PNA)2-DNA triplexes, which are much more stable than the corresponding DNA-DNA duplexes, and bind to double-stranded DNA by strand displacement. We report here that PNA containing all four natural nucleobases hybridizes to complementary oligonucleotides obeying the Watson-Crick base-pairing rules, and thus is a true DNA mimic in terms of base-pair recognition.

AB - DNA analogues are currently being intensely investigated owing to their potential as gene-targeted drugs. Furthermore, their properties and interaction with DNA and RNA could provide a better understanding of the structural features of natural DNA that determine its unique chemical, biological and genetic properties. We recently designed a DNA analogue, PNA, in which the backbone is structurally homomorphous with the deoxyribose backbone and consists of N-(2-aminoethyl)glycine units to which the nucleobases are attached. We showed that PNA oligomers containing solely thymine and cytosine can hybridize to complementary oligonucleotides, presumably by forming Watson-Crick-Hoogsteen (PNA)2-DNA triplexes, which are much more stable than the corresponding DNA-DNA duplexes, and bind to double-stranded DNA by strand displacement. We report here that PNA containing all four natural nucleobases hybridizes to complementary oligonucleotides obeying the Watson-Crick base-pairing rules, and thus is a true DNA mimic in terms of base-pair recognition.

KW - Base Sequence

KW - Cytosine/chemistry

KW - DNA/chemistry

KW - Glycine/analogs & derivatives

KW - Hydrogen Bonding

KW - Molecular Sequence Data

KW - Nucleic Acid Hybridization

KW - Oligodeoxyribonucleotides/chemistry

KW - RNA/chemistry

KW - Thermodynamics

KW - Thymine/chemistry

U2 - 10.1038/365566a0

DO - 10.1038/365566a0

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 7692304

SN - 1061-4036

VL - 365

SP - 566

EP - 568

JO - Nature: New biology

JF - Nature: New biology

IS - 6446

ER -