Biological Significance of Nucleic Acid

Nucleic acid fluorescent probes for biological sensing.

Nucleic acid fluorescent probes are playing increasingly important roles in biological sensing in recent years. In addition to the conventional functions of single-stranded DNA/RNA to hybridize with their complementary strands, affinity nucleic acids (aptamers) with specific target binding properties have also been developed, which has greatly broadened the application of nucleic acid fluoresc...

On the statistical significance of nucleic acid similarities

When evaluating sequence similarities among nucleic acids by the usual methods, statistical significance is often found when the biological significance of the similarity is dubious. We demonstrate that the known statistical properties of nucleic acid sequences strongly affect the statistical distribution of similarity values when calculated by standard procedures. We propose a series of models...

Synthesis and biological properties of triazole-linked locked nucleic acid.

We have synthesized and studied the biological and biophysical properties of triazole-linked ribo and xylo locked nucleic acid (LNA). The combination of LNA with the Isobe triazole linkage gave high binding affinity when incorporated at the 3' or 5' termini of oligonucleotides, but low binding affinity at internal positions. Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) and siRNAs containing triazole dimer...

Mechanism and biological role of Dnmt2 in Nucleic Acid Methylation

A group of homologous nucleic acid modification enzymes called Dnmt2, Trdmt1, Pmt1, DnmA, and Ehmet in different model organisms catalyze the transfer of a methyl group from the cofactor S-adenosyl-methionine (SAM) to the carbon-5 of cytosine residues. Originally considered as DNA MTases, these enzymes were shown to be tRNA methyltransferases about a decade ago. Between the presumed involvement...

The nucleic acid of African Horse-Sickness Virus