title: Synthesis and properties of cationic oligopeptides with different side chain lengths that bind to RNA duplexes.
abstract: A series of artificial peptides bearing cationic functional groups with different side chain lengths were designed, and their ability to increase the thermal stability of nucleic acid duplexes was investigated. The peptides with amino groups selectively increased the stability of RNA/RNA duplexes, and a relationship between the side chain length and the melting temperature (Tm) of the peptide-RNA complexes was observed. On the other hand, while peptides with guanidino groups exhibited a similar tendency with respect to the peptide structure and thermal stability of RNA/RNA duplexes, those with longer side chain lengths, such as L-2-amino-4-guanidinobutyric acid (Agb) or L-arginine (Arg) oligomers, stabilized both RNA/RNA and DNA/DNA duplexes, and those with shorter side chain lengths exhibited a higher ability to selectively stabilize RNA/RNA duplexes. In addition, peptides were designed with different levels of flexibility by introducing glycine (Gly) residues into the L-2-amino-3-guanidinopropionic acid (Agp) oligomers. It was found that insertion of Gly did not affect the thermal stability of the peptide-RNA complexes, but an alternate arrangement of Gly and Agp apparently decreased the thermal stability. Therefore, in the Agp oligomer, consecutive Agp sequences are essential for increasing the stability of RNA/RNA duplexes.
authors: Department of Medical Genome Sciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Bioscience Building 702, Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8562, Japan.
authors: Yusuke
authors: Y
authors: Maeda
authors: Rintaro
authors: R
authors: Iwata
authors: Takeshi
authors: T
authors: Wada
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002412:Cations / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation / Q000187:drug effects; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D020871:RNA Stability / Q000187:drug effects*; D044366:Transition Temperature / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D002412:Cations; D009842:Oligopeptides; D012313:RNA