title: L-alpha-lyxopyranosyl (4'-->3') oligonucleotides: a base-pairing system containing a shortened backbone.
abstract: [formula: see text] The L-alpha-lyxopyranosyl (4'-->3') oligonucleotide system shows cooperative base-pairing in spite of containing only five instead of the usual six covalent bonds per repetitive backbone unit. In contrast, corresponding D-beta-ribofuranosyl (4'-->3') oligonucleotides do not show adenine-thymine pairing under comparable conditions. The difference in pairing behavior relates to the conformation of the two systems' vicinal 3',4'-phosphodiester substituents, which is diaxial in the lyxopyranosyl system and 3'-axial-4'-equatorial in the ribopyranosyl system.
authors.affiliation: Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Reck
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wippo
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kudick
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bolli
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ceulemans
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Krishnamurthy
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Eschenmoser
mesh_terms: D020029:Base Pairing; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009841:Oligonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D009841:Oligonucleotides