Synthesis of luminescent 2,3-diphenylmaleimide-labelled peptide nucleic acid oligomers

A lys-GTAGATCACT-lys peptide nucleic acid (PNA) decamer labelled with the luminescent 2,3-diphenyl maleimido (DPM) group on the ε-position of the terminal lysine residue was prepared through an automated solid phase synthesis. Fluorescence emission of the DPM-labelled PNA thus obtained was found to be significant and promising for the potential application in DNA recognition.     

Metal-containing peptide nucleic acid conjugates

Peptide Nucleic Acids (PNAs) are non-natural DNA/RNA analogues with favourable physico-chemical properties and promising applications. Discovered nearly 20 years ago, PNAs have recently re-gained quite a lot of attention. In this Perspective article, we discuss the latest advances on the preparation and utilisation of PNA monomers and oligomers containing metal complexes. These metal- conjugates have found applications in various research fields such as in the sequence-specific detection of nucleic acids, in the hydrolysis of nucleic acids and peptides, as radioactive probes or as modulators of PNA·DNA hybrid stability, and last but not least as probes for molecular and cell biology.     

DyNAs: constitutional dynamic nucleic acid analogues

Dynamic cationic polymers were generated in aqueous media from functionally complementary monomers bearing nucleobase groups. (1)H NMR spectroscopy was used to follow the polycondensation reaction of the nucleobase-appended dihydrazides 1 and 2 with the dialdehydes B and C. The reversibility of these polymers was established by proton NMR spectroscopy through exchange of the dihydrazide 2 with polymer 1 B. The polymers 1 B, 2 B, 1 C, and 2 C represent dynamic biopolymers of nucleic acid type, DyNAs. Electrostatic interaction of these polymers with polyanionic entities, such as polyphosphates, polynucleotides, and polyaspartic acid, was shown to take place. It induces a change in size of the dynamic polymer, as it responds by an increase in degree of polymerization to an increase of the overall anionic charge introduced, that is, to the total electrostatic interaction.     

Synthesis of oligomers derived from amide-linked neuraminic acid analogues

N-Fluoren-9-ylmethoxycarbonyl-protected sugar amino acids derived from alpha-O-methoxy- and 2,3-dehydroneuraminic acids have been prepared. Incorporation of these monomer units into solid-phase synthesis led to the efficient synthesis of two series of oligomers varying from one to eight units in length. The (1-->5)-linked amides of 2,3-dehydroneuraminic acid were further subjected to hydrogenation giving a third series of oligomers with a beta-hydrido substituent at the anomeric carbon.     

The alpha-helical peptide nucleic acid concept: merger of peptide secondary structure and codified nucleic acid recognition

A novel platform for nucleic acid recognition that integrates the alpha-helix secondary structure of peptides with the codified base-pairing capability of nucleic acids is reported. The resulting alpha-helical peptide nucleic acids (alpha PNAs) are composed of a repeating tetrapeptidyl unit, aa(1)-aa(2)-aa(3)-Ser(B), where aa(1) through aa(3) represent generic ancillary amino acids and B = nucleobases linked to Ser via a methylene bridge. Effective syntheses of constituent Fmoc-protected nucleoamino acids (Fmoc-Ser(B)-OH, where B = thymine, cytosine, and uracil) are described along with a protocol for the solid-phase synthesis of 21mer alpha PNAs containing five such nucleobases. By varying the ancillary amino acids, two distinct classes of alpha PNAs were constructed, having a net charge of -1 or +6, respectively, at physiological pH. The modular nature of the alpha PNA platform was illustrated by the synthesis of symmetrical disulfide-bridged alpha PNA dimers containing 10 nucleobases. Hybridization of these alpha PNAs with ssDNA has been examined by thermal denaturation, gel electrophoresis, and circular dichroism (CD) and the data indicated that alpha PNA binds to ssDNA in a cooperative manner with high affinity and sequence specificity. In general, b2 alpha PNAs bind faster and more strongly with ssDNA than do the corresponding b1 alpha PNAs. Parallel alpha PNA-DNA complexes are more stable than their antiparallel counterparts. CD studies also revealed that the hybridization event involves the folding of both species into their helical conformations. Finally, NMR experiments provided conclusive evidence of Watson-Crick base pairing in alpha PNA-ssDNA hybrids.     

Sequence-specific binding of DNA to liposomes containing di-alkyl peptide nucleic acid (PNA) amphiphiles

We present a method to covalently attach peptide nucleic acid (PNA) to liposomes by conjugation of PNA peptide to charged amino acids and synthetic di-alkyl lipids ("PNA amphiphile," PNAA) followed by co-extrusion with disteroylphosphatidylcholine (DSPC) and cholesterol. Attachment of four Glu residues and two ethylene oxide spacers to the PNAA was required to confer proper hydration for extrusion and presentation for DNA hybridization. The extent of DNA oligomer binding to 10-mer PNAA liposomes was assessed using capillary zone electrophoresis. Nearly all PNAs on the liposome surface are complexed with a stoichiometric amount of complementary DNA 10-mers after 3-h incubation in pH 8.0 Tris buffer. No binding to PNAA liposomes was observed using DNA 10-mers with a single mismatch. Longer DNA showed a greatly attenuated binding efficiency, likely because of electrostatic repulsion between the PNAA liposome double layer and the DNA backbone. Langmuir isotherms of PNAA:DSPC:chol monolayers indicate miscibility of these components at the compositions used for liposome preparation. PNAA liposomes preserve the high sequence-selectivity of PNAs and emerge as a useful sequence tag for highly sensitive bioanalytical devices.     

Peptide nucleic acid and amino acid modified peptide nucleic acid analysis by capillary zone electrophoresis

A rapid, high resolution, and low sample consumption CZE method is developed for peptide nucleic acid (PNA) analysis for the first time. 30% v/v acetonitrile in PNA sample and 20% v/v acetonitrile in 50 mM borax‐boric acid (pH 8.7) as BGE were employed after optimization. The calibration curves were linear for PNA concentration ranging from 1 to 50 μmol/L. LOD and LOQ of PNA were 0.2 and 1.0 μmol/L, respectively. Since the commercially available reagent gives rise to huge PNA peak and an apparent impurity peak, the purity of PNA was evaluated to be about 81.4% by CZE method, obviously lower than the supplier's purity value of 99.9% evaluated by RP–HPLC, and also lower than 94.8% determined with RP–HPLC by our research group. The CZE method takes only 5 min, needs only 90 nL PNA, much less than 20 min and 20 μL PNA in RP–HPLC method. Moreover, the CZE method is applicable for the analysis of glutamic acid modified and lysine modified PNAs, they show different migration time with their corresponding complementary PNAs. Our results show CZE provides a new choice for PNA and modified PNA analysis, also their purity or quality evaluation.     

Monofunctionally trans-diammine platinum(II)-modified peptide nucleic acid oligomers: a new generation of potential antisense drugs

A solid-phase approach is described that provides facile access to monofunctionally trans-PtII-modified PNA oligomers of arbitrary sequence for potential use both in antigene and antisense strategies. The approach includes the synthesis of a platinated building block 1 and its subsequent incorporation into three different PNA oligomers 5-7 by solid-phase synthesis. In a model cross-linking reaction one of the latter is found to recognize sequence-specifically a target oligonucleotide 8 and to cross-link to it. The resulting structure is the trans-PtII-cross-linked PNA/DNA duplex 9 as revealed by mass spectrometry in combination with a Maxam-Gilbert sequencing experiment.     

Development of bridged nucleic acid analogues for antigene technology

In the last decade, increased efforts have been directed toward the development of oligonucleotide-based technologies for genome analyses, diagnostics, or therapeutics. Among them, an antigene strategy is one promising technology to regulate gene expression in living cells. Stable triplex formation between the triplex-forming oligonucleotide (TFO) and the target double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) is fundamental to the antigene strategy. However, there are two major drawbacks in triplex formation by a natural TFO: low stability of the triplex and limitations of the target DNA sequence. To overcome these problems, we have developed various bridged nucleic acids (BNAs), and found that the 2',4'-BNA modification of oligonucleotides strongly promotes parallel motif triplex formation under physiological conditions. Some nucleobase analogues to extend the target DNA sequence were designed, synthesized, and introduced into the 2',4'-BNA structure. The obtained 2',4'-BNA derivatives with unnatural nucleobases effectively recognized a pyrimidine-purine interruption in the target dsDNA. Some other examples of nucleic acid analogues for stable triplex formation and extension of the target DNA sequence are also summarized.     

DNA-templated polymerization of side-chain-functionalized peptide nucleic acid aldehydes

The DNA-templated polymerization of synthetic building blocks provides a potential route to the laboratory evolution of sequence-defined polymers with structures and properties not necessarily limited to those of natural biopolymers. We previously reported the efficient and sequence-specific DNA-templated polymerization of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) aldehydes. Here, we report the enzyme-free, DNA-templated polymerization of side-chain-functionalized PNA tetramer and pentamer aldehydes. We observed that polymerization of tetramer and pentamer PNA building blocks with a single lysine-based side chain at various positions in the building block could proceed efficiently and sequence specifically. In addition, DNA-templated polymerization also proceeded efficiently and in a sequence-specific manner with pentamer PNA aldehydes containing two or three lysine side chains in a single building block to generate more densely functionalized polymers. To further our understanding of side-chain compatibility and expand the capabilities of this system, we also examined the polymerization efficiencies of 20 pentamer building blocks each containing one of five different side-chain groups and four different side-chain regio- and stereochemistries. Polymerization reactions were efficient for all five different side-chain groups and for three of the four combinations of side-chain regio- and stereochemistries. Differences in the efficiency and initial rate of polymerization correlate with the apparent melting temperature of each building block, which is dependent on side-chain regio- and stereochemistry but relatively insensitive to side-chain structure among the substrates tested. Our findings represent a significant step toward the evolution of sequence-defined synthetic polymers and also demonstrate that enzyme-free nucleic acid-templated polymerization can occur efficiently using substrates with a wide range of side-chain structures, functionalization positions within each building block, and functionalization densities.     

Morphological characterization of self-assembled peptide nucleic acid amphiphiles

Peptide nucleic acid amphiphiles (PNAA) are a promising set of materials for sequence-specific separation of nucleic acids from complex mixtures. To implement PNAA in micellar separations, the morphology and size of PNAA micelles in the presence and absence of a sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) cosurfactant have been studied by small-angle X-ray scattering and dynamic light scattering. We find that a 6-mer PNAA with a 12-carbon n-alkane tail forms ellipsoidal micelles (a = 5.15 nm; b = 3.20 nm) above its critical micelle concentration (CMC) of 110.9 microM. On addition of a stoichiometric amount of complementary DNA, PNAA hybridizes to DNA, suppressing the formation of PNAA micelles. At a ratio of 19:1 SDS/PNAA (total concentration = 20 mM), spherical micelles are formed with outer radius Rs = 2.67 nm, slightly larger than spherical micelles of pure SDS. Capillary electrophoresis studies show that PNAA/DNA duplexes do not comicellize with SDS micelles. No such effects are observed using noncomplementary DNA. The shape and size of the PNAA micelles is also verified by dynamic light scattering (DLS) studies. These results provide an interesting case study with competing electrostatic, hydrophobic, and hydrogen-bonding interactions in micellar systems and make possible the use of PNAA in micellar separations of DNA oligomers.     

Efficient functional molecule incorporation method to functionalized peptide nucleic acid (PNA): use in synthesis of labeled PNA oligomers

A novel efficient synthetic method for a functionalized PNA (peptide nucleic acid) is described, in which a functional molecule is incorporated in place of a nucleobase. Novel ω-AA-^BocPNA-OH (20-24, AA=amino acid) were designed as PNA precursor monomer units into which functional molecules could be incorporated efficiently. Compounds 20-24 reacted quantitatively with OSu (N-hydroxysuccinimidyl) active ester derivatives and isothiocyanate derivatives of commercial functional molecules to give target functionalized PNA monomer units 25-53. Various types of functionalized PNA monomer units could be efficiently incorporated into multiple predetermined positions in a PNA oligomer by SPPS (solid phase peptide synthesis) in the same way as for the four A(Cbz), G(Cbz), C(Cbz), and T PNA monomer units.     

Azidopeptide nucleic acid. An alternative strategy for solid-phase peptide nucleic acid (PNA) synthesis

[reaction: see text] A practical and efficient method for PNA synthesis using an azide group to mask the N-terminus is reported. The deprotection was carried out in 5 min, while couplings were complete within 60 min. The near neutral conditions of the phosphine deprotection combined with the base-free coupling using hydroxybenzotriazole-activated monomers make this approach very mild.     

Synthesis and properties of peptide nucleic acids containing a psoralen unit

We prepared the psoralen PNA unit from 8-methoxypsoralen and synthesized various PNAs containing psoralen by a typical (t)()Boc method. PNAs containing psoralen (P-PNA) at strand end formed a stable duplex with complementary DNA. The hybridization of P-PNA with complementary DNA resulted in a considerable decrease of the psoralen fluorescence.     

Synthetic studies on the bryostatins: synthetic routes to analogues containing the tricyclic macrolactone core

[reaction: see text]. Synthesis of the first of a projected series of bryostatin analogues has been accomplished in 26 steps and 2.2% overall yield. In this letter, we detail two approaches to the structural core of these tricyclic macrolactone bryostatin analogues. The key features of the route include BITIP-catalyzed asymmetric allylation reactions and Mukaiyama aldol reactions, a chelation-controlled allylation, pyran annulation reactions, and macrolactonization.     

Synthesis and photo activity of phenylazonaphthalene peptide nucleic acid monomers

Phenylazonaphthalene peptide nucleic acid （PNA） monomers were successfully synthesized, and their photoisomerization was examined. The new PNA monomers showed reversible trans-cis isomerization with UVand visible light irradiation, which might be the foundation of photo-regulating the hybridization between PNA containing phenylazonaphthalene unit and DNA. Simultaneously, the fluorescence of the new PNA monomers might make them especially useful as structural probes.