In this communication, we show that peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) with lengths of 15-20 nucleotides, when preorganized into a right-handed helix, can invade mixed-sequence double-helical B-form DNA (B-DNA). Strand invasion occurs in a highly sequence-specific manner through direct Watson-Crick base pairing. Unlike the previously developed double-duplex invasion strategy, which requires simultane...

The human and veterinary disease complex known as African trypanosomiasis continues to inflict significant global morbidity, mortality, and economic hardship. Drug resistance and toxic side effects of old drugs call for novel and unorthodox strategies for new and safe treatment options. We designed methyltriazenyl purine prodrugs to be rapidly and selectively internalized by the parasite, after...

In plants, nucleobase biochemistry is highly compartmented relying upon a well-regulated and selective membrane transport system. In Arabidopsis two proteins, AtAzg1 and AtAzg2, show substantial amino acid sequence similarity to the adenine-guanine-hypoxanthine transporter AzgA of Aspergillus nidulans. Analysis of single and double mutant lines harboring T-DNA insertion alleles AtAzg1-1 and AtA...

Nature uses Watson–Crick base pairings as a means to store and transmit genetic information because of their high fidelity. These specific A–T (or A–U) and G–C nucleobase interactions, in turn, provide chemists and biologists with a general paradigm for designing molecules to bind to DNA and RNA. With knowledge of the sequence information, one can design oligonucleotides to bind to just about a...

Endogenous 5-methylcytosine ((Me)C) residues are found at all CG dinucleotides of the p53 tumor suppressor gene, including the mutational 'hotspots' for smoking induced lung cancer. (Me)C enhances the reactivity of its base paired guanine towards carcinogenic diolepoxide metabolites of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) present in cigarette smoke. In the present study, the structural basis ...

This article reports the synthesis of a novel type of conjugate of three fundamental biological build blocks (i.e., saccharide, amino acids, and nucleobase) and their cell compatibility. The facile synthesis starts with the synthesis of nucleobase and saccharide derivatives, then uses solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) to build the peptide segment (Phe-Arg-Gly-Asp or naphthAla-Phe-Arg-Gly-Asp...

The two DNA conjugates (split probes) carrying a metal chelator form an integrated luminous lanthanide (Ln(3+): Tb(3+) or Eu(3+)) complex on the complementary template DNA (target). The luminous property of this Ln(3+) complex has been used for DNA assay. The intensity of the luminescence was affected by the local structural disruption caused by one-base mispairing around the complex. Among the...

DNA is subject to oxidative damage due to radiation or by-products of cellular metabolism, thereby creating electron holes that migrate along the DNA stacks. A systematic computational analysis of the dependence of the electronic properties of nucleobase stacks on sequence and conformation was performed here, on the basis of single- and double-stranded homo-nucleobase stacks of 1-10 bases or 1-...

The strongest gas-phase MP2/6-31G*(0.25) stacking energies between the aromatic amino acids and the natural or methylated nucleobases were considered. The potential energy surfaces of dimers were searched as a function of the vertical separation, angle of rotation and horizontal displacement between monomers stacked according to their centers of mass. Our calculations reveal that the stacking i...