title: Strand invasion of mixed-sequence B-DNA by acridine-linked, gamma-peptide nucleic acid (gamma-PNA).
abstract: Peptide nucleic acid (PNA) is a synthetic mimic of DNA and RNA that can recognize double-stranded B-DNA through direct Watson-Crick base-pairing. Although promising, PNA recognition is presently limited to mostly purine- and pyrimidine-rich targets, because mixed-sequence PNA, in general, does not have sufficient binding free energy to invade B-DNA. In this Article, we show that conformationally preorganized gamma-peptide nucleic acid (gamma-PNA) containing an acridine moiety covalently linked at the C-terminus can invade mixed-sequence B-DNA in a sequence-specific manner. Recognition occurs through direct Watson-Crick base-pairing. This finding is significant because it demonstrates that the same principles that guide the recognition of single-stranded DNA and RNA can also be applied to double-stranded B-DNA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University, 4400 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA.
authors.forename: Srinivas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rapireddy
authors.forename: Gaofei
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Subhadeep
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.forename: Bruce A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Armitage
authors.forename: Danith H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Ly
mesh_terms: D000166:Acridines / Q000737:chemistry*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D020135:Peptide Nucleic Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D044366:Transition Temperature
chemical_list: D000166:Acridines; D020135:Peptide Nucleic Acids; D004247:DNA