Abstract
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.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Nature |
| Volume | 365 |
| Issue number | 6446 |
| Pages (from-to) | 566-8 |
| Number of pages | 3 |
| ISSN | 0028-0836 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 7 Oct 1993 |
Keywords
- Base Sequence
- Cytosine/chemistry
- DNA/chemistry
- Glycine/analogs & derivatives
- Hydrogen Bonding
- Molecular Sequence Data
- Nucleic Acid Hybridization
- Oligodeoxyribonucleotides/chemistry
- RNA/chemistry
- Thermodynamics
- Thymine/chemistry