Phosphate Backbone (phosphate + backbone)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Label-Free and Label Based Electrochemical Detection of Hybridization by Using Methylene Blue and Peptide Nucleic Acid Probes at Chitosan Modified Carbon Paste Electrodes

ELECTROANALYSIS, Issue 24 2002
Pinar Kara
Abstract A chitosan modified carbon paste electrode (ChiCPE) based DNA biosensor for the recognition of calf thymus double stranded DNA (dsDNA), single stranded DNA (ssDNA) and hybridization detection between complementary DNA oligonucleotides is presented. DNA and oligonucleotides were electrostatically attached by using chitosan onto CPE. The amino groups of chitosan formed a strong complex with the phosphate backbone of DNA. The immobilized probe could selectively hybridize with the target DNA to form hybrid on the CPE surface. The detection of hybridization was observed by using the label-free and label based protocols. The oxidation signals of guanine and adenine greatly decreased when a hybrid was formed on the ChiCPE surface. The changes in the peak currents of methylene blue (MB), an electroactive label, were observed upon hybridization of probe with target. The signals of MB were investigated at dsDNA modified ChiCPE and ssDNA modified ChiCPE and the increased peak currents were observed, in respect to the order of electrodes. The hybridization of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probes with the DNA target sequences at ChiCPE was also investigated. Performance characteristics of the sensor were described, along with future prospects. [source]


Stability of Hoogsteen -Type Triplexes , Electrostatic Attraction between Duplex Backbone and Triplex-Forming Oligonucleotide (TFO) Using an Intercalating Conjugate

HELVETICA CHIMICA ACTA, Issue 5 2008
Daniel Globisch
Abstract Syntheses are described for two novel twisted intercalating nucleic acid (TINA) monomers where the intercalator comprises a benzene ring linked to a naphthalimide moiety via an ethynediyl bridge. The intercalators Y and Z have a 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl and a methyl residue on the naphthalimide moiety, respectively. When used as triplex-forming oligonucleotides (TFOs), the novel naphthalimide TINAs show extraordinary high thermal stability in Hoogsteen -type triplexes and duplexes with high discrimination of mismatch strands. DNA Strands containing the intercalator Y show higher thermal triplex stability than DNA strands containing the intercalator Z. This observation can be explained by the ionic interaction of the protonated dimethylamino group under physiological conditions, targeting the negatively charged phosphate backbone of the duplex. This interaction leads to an extra binding mode between the TFO and the duplex, in agreement with molecular-modeling studies. We believe that this is the first example of an intercalator linking the TFO to the phosphate backbone of the duplex by an ionic interaction, which is a promising tool to achieve a higher triplex stability. [source]


Binding of proteins to the minor groove of DNA: What are the structural and energetic determinants for kinking a basepair step?

JOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY, Issue 6 2003
David Bosch
Abstract The structural and energetic determinants for kinking a basepair step by minor groove,insertion of the protein side chains of PurR, LacI, LEF,1, IHF, Sac7d, and Sso7d, have been calculated by molecular dynamics/potential of mean force simulations. The structural determinants of the kinked structures are: two contiguous furanose rings achieve different conformations, in the region of C3,endo (A,DNA) and C2,endo (B,DNA); the , torsion angle always takes values characteristic of the C2,endo conformation of B,DNA, independently of sugar puckering; and protein side chain insertion increases slide (from negative to positive values), rise, and roll, and decreases twist. The energetic determinants of DNA kinking are: the conformational transition of the sugar,phosphate backbone is not energetically demanding; the relative importance of the interbase parameters in the free energy penalty is slide, followed by twist and rise, and concluding with shift and roll; and the characteristic increase of roll and decrease of twist, upon side chain insertion, tends to stabilize the process of DNA kinking. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 24: 682,691, 2003 [source]


DNA aptamers developed against a soman derivative cross-react with the methylphosphonic acid core but not with flanking hydrophobic groups

JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR RECOGNITION, Issue 3 2009
John G. Bruno
Abstract Twelve rounds of systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) were conducted against a magnetic bead conjugate of the para -aminophenylpinacolylmethylphosphonate (PAPMP) derivative of the organophosphorus (OP) nerve agent soman (GD). The goal was to develop DNA aptamers that could scavenge GD in vivo, thereby reducing or eliminating the toxic effects of this dangerous compound. Aptamers were sequenced and screened in peroxidase-based colorimetric plate assays after rounds 8 and 12 of SELEX. The aptamer candidate sequences exhibiting the highest affinity for the GD derivative from round 8 also reappeared in several clones from round 12. Each of the highest affinity PAPMP-binding aptamers also bound methylphosphonic acid (MPA). In addition, the aptamer with the highest overall affinity for PAPMP carried a sequence motif (TTTAGT) thought to bind MPA based on previously published data (J. Fluoresc 18: 867,876, 2008). This sequence motif was found in several other relatively high affinity PAPMP aptamer candidates as well. In studies with the nerve agent GD, pre-incubation of a large molar excess of aptamer candidates failed to protect human butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) from inhibition. With the aid of three-dimensional molecular modeling of the GD derivative it appears that a hydrophilic cleft sandwiched between the pinacolyl group and the p -aminophenyl ring might channel nucleotide interactions to the phosphonate portion of the immobilized GD derivative. However, bona fide GD free in solution may be repulsed by the negative phosphate backbone of aptamers and rotate its phosphonate and fluorine moieties away from the aptamer to avoid being bound. Future attempts to develop aptamers to GD might benefit from immobilizing the pinacolyl group of bona fide GD to enhance exposure of the phosphonate and fluorine to the random DNA library. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


A Novel Methodological Approach for the Analysis of Host,Ligand Interactions,

CHEMPHYSCHEM, Issue 2 2007
Daniela Strat Dr.
Abstract Traditional analysis of drug-binding data relies upon the Scatchard formalism. These methods rely upon the fitting of a linear equation providing intercept and gradient data that relate to physical properties, such as the binding constant, cooperativity coefficients and number of binding sites. However, the existence of different binding modes with different binding constants makes the implementation of these models difficult. This article describes a novel approach to the binding model of host,ligand interactions by using a derived analytical function describing the observed signal. The benefit of this method is that physically significant parameters, that is, binding constants and number of binding sites, are automatically derived by the use of a minimisation routine. This methodology was utilised to analyse the interactions between a novel antitumour agent and DNA. An optical spectroscopy study confirms that the pentacyclic acridine derivative (DH208) binds to nucleic acids. Two binding modes can be identified: a stronger one that involves intercalation and a weaker one that involves oriented outer-sphere binding. In both cases the plane of the bound acridine ring is parallel to the nucleic acid bases, orthogonal to the phosphate backbone. Ultraviolet (UV) and circular dichroism (CD) data were fitted using the proposed model. The binding constants and the number of binding sites derived from the model remained consistent across the different techniques used. The different wavelengths at which the measurements were made maintained the coherence of the results. [source]