Opening of the extraordinarily stable mini-hairpin d(GCGAAGC).
For the purposes of the antisense strategy oligodeoxyribonucleotides can be protected against serum and cell nuclease digestion by tagging at their 3'-end with a sequence naturally forming a very stable hairpin, d(GCGAAGC). This nuclease-resistant hairpin is also known for its high thermostability. We demonstrate in this study that attachment of d(GCGAAGC) at the 3'-end of an oligodeoxyribonucleotide does not hinder hybridization of the 5'-part of this oligonucleotide to a complementary DNA strand. Moreover, the hairpin is in equilibrium between a folded and an open structure, with an energy minimum in favor of pairing if it is possible, even with mismatches.
Jollès
B
B
LPBC (CNRS URA 2056), Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 Place Jussieu, Case 138, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France. jolles@lpbc.jussieu.fr
Réfrégiers
M
M
Laigle
A
A
D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D019811:Hydroxylamine / Q000378:metabolism; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009691:Nucleic Acid Denaturation; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D015719:Single-Strand Specific DNA and RNA Endonucleases / Q000378:metabolism; D013696:Temperature
D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D019811:Hydroxylamine; D015719:Single-Strand Specific DNA and RNA Endonucleases