title: Superior duplex DNA strand invasion by acridine conjugated peptide nucleic acids.
abstract: DNA helix invasion by P-loop forming peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) is extremely sensitive to increased ionic strength as this stabilizes the DNA duplex. To address this, the DNA intercalator 9-aminoacridine was conjugated to helix invading PNAs, and the duplex DNA binding efficiency of such constructs was measured at different ionic strength conditions by electrophoretic mobility shift analysis. Remarkably, at physiogically relevant ionic strength (140 mM K+/10 mM Na+, 2 mM Mg2+), acridine conjugated PNAs showed 20-150-fold superior binding to a cognate sequence target as compared to the conventional PNAs. This enhancement occurred without compromising the sequence specificity of binding. Thus, simply conjugating the DNA intercalator 9-aminoacridine to PNA represents a major step toward the development of helix invading constructs for in vivo applications such as gene targeting.
authors.affiliation: Center for Biomolecular Recognition, IMBG, Department B, The Panum Institute, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 3c, 2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bentin
authors.forename: Peter E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Nielsen
mesh_terms: D000585:Aminacrine / Q000737:chemistry*; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D007364:Intercalating Agents / Q000737:chemistry; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D020135:Peptide Nucleic Acids / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D007364:Intercalating Agents; D020135:Peptide Nucleic Acids; C051802:triplex DNA; D000585:Aminacrine; D004247:DNA