纳米荧光探针用于核酸分子的检测及成像研究

核酸,包括脱氧核糖核酸和核糖核酸,在生物的生长、发育、突变、炎症、癌症等正常或异常的生命活动中发挥着重要的作用,它们的异常表达与多种疾病的发生、发展也密切相关.因此,发展准确、有效的方法实现核酸分子的检测,对深入探究核酸的功能调控以及相关疾病的早期检测与治疗都具有重要的意义.荧光检测法与荧光成像技术具有灵敏度高、时空分辨率高等优点,为实时、准确的检测核酸分子提供了有力的工具.本文着重综述了近年来发展的纳米荧光探针用于疾病相关核酸分子的检测与细胞和活体成像工作的研究进展,最后提出了进一步构建新型纳米荧光探针用于核酸检测面临的挑战、未来发展方向与展望.     

稀土及其配合物对核酸的断裂作用

人工核酸酶是一类具有限制性内切酶的功能、能高效高选择性地催化水解DNA 或RNA 的断裂工具。它们一般由核酸结构识别系统及催化断裂系统组成, 将两种功能有效地结合起来, 可模拟核酸的酶切反应。本文综述了稀土及其配合物对核酸的断裂作用, 并对其断裂机制进行了探讨。     

环状寡聚核苷酸的研究进展

环状结构的核酸因其首尾相连的特殊结构,可提高其对核酸外切酶的稳定性,并且其环状结构可使其具有特殊的功能.早期由于检测技术的限制,研究者对环状核酸的研究相对较少.近年来,随着科学技术的进步,研究者发现生物体内存在各种环状核酸,并具有独特的生理调节功能.对于较小的环状寡聚核苷酸(几十个碱基)在生命体中是否存在以及其可能的功能仍未知晓.本文综述了环状核酸(特别是较小环的寡聚核苷酸)主要的两类合成法(酶合成法和化学合成法),并比较了它们各自的优缺点.同时阐述了各种环状功能核酸的结构特性以及它们对特定生物活性和基因功能的特异性调控,为阐明环状核酸在生物体内的产生及其作用机制的化学生物学研究提供了新的研究工具.     

核酸与抗癌药物的作用和广义荧光猝灭方程

通过荧光法在不同温度下研究了2种抗癌新药:吡柔比星和表柔比星与小牛胸腺DNA的作用,分别应用荧光猝灭和荧光加强理论公式计算了它们的结合常数等,进而分别计算了它们的热力学函数.首先,热力学研究结果表明核酸与药物作用属于氢键和/或Van der Waals力;其次,即使是核酸类生物大分子其与药物的作用,荧光猝灭和荧光加强公式的计算结果仍符合等效性规律;第三,本文对这些猝灭图、双倒数图、生成常数、和热力学数据的差异进行了综合分析比较,结果表明,基于荧光加强理论公式(4)获得的图谱和数值显示更为合理.因而我们建议,即使在研究受体-底物的荧光猝灭反应时,采用荧光加强理论公式(4)可以获得更符合实际的结果.结合以前的类似结果,我们指出:对于任何生物大分子和活性小分子(含金属离子)之间由给体-受体作用所导致的荧光猝灭和荧光加强效应,均可应用我们导出的荧光加强理论公式(4)进行处理,因此我们定名其为广义的荧光猝灭方程.     

光谱法研究吗啡与核酸的相互作用

采用紫外光谱、荧光光谱和圆二色光谱等手段对吗啡与小牛胸腺脱氧核糖核酸(ctDNA)、酵母核糖核酸(yRNA)的作用方式进行了研究,发现核酸对吗啡有较强的荧光猝灭作用,且核酸的紫外吸收光谱和吗啡的荧光发射光谱有一定程度的重叠,据此求得了其结合反应的结合常数、结合位点数和基本热力学参数等,证实了吗啡通过沟渠方式与核酸作用。     

核酸前体及其修饰结构的电子转移机理研究

应用荧光淬灭和激光光解瞬态吸收光谱技术研究了一系列核酸前体(核酸碱基、核苷及其结构修饰物)、小牛胸腺ctDNA与各种荧光探针及蛋白酶之间的瞬态、稳态电子转移作用机理。测定结果表明,它们的稳态、静态荧光淬灭作用很强,很好地符合Stern-Volmer线性方程,淬灭速率常数,k~q(s)和k~q(d),达10^10.M^-^1S^-^1,属于扩散控制,表明核酸前体的基态可作为电子受体或给体而分别与含色氨酸残基的蛋白酶、受电子型荧光探针之间发生具有电子转移性质的相互作用。对鸟嘌呤的结构修饰物进行了激光光解的瞬态吸收光谱研究,检测了几类活性中间体,论证了激发态的光致电子转移和能量转移机理。     

四磺化铁酞菁-阿尔新蓝8GX-对-羟基苯乙酸-H2O2催化荧光反应体系在核酸定量中的应用

阳离子荧光染料阿尔新蓝8GX与阴离子荧光染料四磺化铁酞菁发生缔合作用，使四磺化铁酞菁的荧光猝灭，当核酸存在时，削弱了离子缔合作用使四磺化铁酞菁的荧光恢复。荧光增强的程度与核酸的量成线性关系，据此实现了对核酸的定量测定。     

水溶性游离碱阳离子卟啉与核酸作用的光谱研究

研究了ｍｅｓｏ－四（对－三甲基氨基苯基）卟啉（ＴＡＰＰ）和ｍｅｓｏ－四（对－甲基吡啶基）卟啉（ＴＭｐｙＰ－４）与核酸作用的电子吸收光谱、荧光光谱和共振光散射光谱的特性，电子吸收和荧光光谱研究表明，这两个水溶性阳离子卟啉与核酸的摩尔比（Ｒ）大于０．２５时，核酸对卟啉的Ｓｏｒｅｔ带有减色效应和荧光猝灭效应；当Ｒ〈０．２５时，核酸与卟啉作用形成新的荧光复合物，共振光散射光谱研究表明，核酸使ＴＡＰＰ的共振     

金属有机框架-核酸复合材料的构建及其在荧光生物医学传感中的应用

金属有机框架材料(metal-organic frameworks, MOFs)是一类由无机金属节点和有机配体自组装而成的新型多孔材料,因其具有可定制的结构和功能、大的比表面积及多功能化位点等诸多优点,在生物医学、生物传感等领域应用广泛.此外,核酸分子以其特有的分子识别和灵活的可编辑性,近年来在靶标识别、分子检测领域取得了令人瞩目的成就. MOFs与核酸的有机整合能够有效扩展两种单体的功能及应用范围,目前已成为化学及生物医学等领域的研究热点.本文综述了近年来MOFs-核酸复合材料荧光生物传感器的构建及其在生物医学领域中的应用进展.首先介绍了MOFs-核酸复合材料传感器的构建方法;其次,根据MOFs所发挥功能的不同,分别从基于荧光淬灭、发光以及刺激响应三大方面对MOFs-核酸复合材料在荧光生物医学传感中的应用进行了分类概述;最后分析了该研究领域目前面临的挑战,并对其未来发展进行了展望.     

基于功能核酸的细胞荧光成像

细胞是生物体基本的结构和功能单元,对活细胞中特定生物组分进行动态分析,将为相关生命活动过程的研究提供重要信息。荧光成像为细胞分析提供了一种操作简单、灵敏度高、可实时监测细胞微观动态分子过程的光学生物成像技术。发展高性能的荧光探针用于活细胞成像已成为研究热点。功能核酸是一类具有特殊化学和生物学功能的寡核苷酸分子,除了天然存在的核酶(Ribozyme)和核糖开关(Riboswitch)之外,还包括通过指数富集的配体系统进化技术(SELEX)筛选获得的核酸适体和脱氧核酶(DNAzyme)。功能核酸由于具有合成简单、免疫原性低、相对分子质量小、化学稳定性高、易于修饰等优点,在生物成像领域受到广泛关注。本文主要综述了基于功能核酸的荧光探针在细胞成像领域中的应用研究,总结了该领域面临的挑战,并对其未来发展方向进行了展望。     

功能化核酸适体的筛选及分子识别应用

核酸适体是从寡核苷酸文库中筛选获得的一段单链寡核苷酸. 由于能与多种靶标分子高特异性结合, 核酸适体已发展成为一种新兴的分子识别工具, 广泛应用于生物医学等领域. 天然核酸文库有限的化学组成限制了核酸适体的结构和功能, 进而限制了其在分子识别中的应用. 功能化核酸适体通过引入特定的化学官能团使核酸序列具有更丰富的构象和功能, 增强其分子识别能力. 然而, 功能化核酸很难与核酸扩增方法兼容, 因而难以使用传统筛选方法进行功能化核酸的筛选. 因此, 优化筛选方法对于获得具有优异性能的功能化核酸适体至关重要. 本综述总结了功能化核酸适体的筛选方法, 并介绍了其作为分子识别工具在生物医学领域中的应用.     

Study on the interaction between nucleic acids and cationic surfactants

The interactions of nucleic acids and cationic surfactants (cetylpyridine bromide (CPB) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTMAB)) in aqueous solution have been studied using the techniques of resonance light scattering (RLS) spectroscopy, the absorption spectroscopy, zeta potential assay and NMR assignment measurement. It is considered that CPB or CTMAB can assemble on the surface of nucleic acid via electrostatic and hydrophobic forces, which results in the formation of large associate of nucleic acid-cationic surfactant and RLS enhancement of nucleic acid. Besides these forces, the pi-pi stacking force between CPB and nucleic acid also exists in the associate. In comparison with CTMAB, CPB has larger enhancement on RLS of nucleic acid, which is attributed to that the enhancement of the former is only due to the absorption of the bases of nucleic acid, while the enhancement of the latter is own to the synergetic resonance caused by the absorption of both bases of nucleic acid and the pyridyl in CPB. These results have important implication for understanding the influence of surfactants on nucleic acid functionality in life science.     

In Vitro Selection of Specific Ligand-binding Nucleic Acids

In vitro selection is a method that allows the simultaneous screening of very large numbers of nucleic acid molecules for a wide range of properties from binding characteristics to catalytic properties; moreover, the isolation of the very rare functional molecules becomes possible. Binding sites between proteins and nucleic acids, for example, have been evaluated by this methodology in order to gain information about protein/nucleic acid interactions. Structure and function of catalytic RNA (“ribozymes”) has been studied by in vitro selection and has led to new ribozymes with improved catalytic function. Substrate specificity of catalytic RNA has been changed and has led to a ribozyme that cleaves DNA. Other applications include the isolation of nucleic acids that bind specifically to small organic molecules and of RNA molecules that form triple helices with double-stranded DNA. In this article we discuss the background, design, and results of in vitro genetic experiments, which bridge biochemical/molecular biological and organic chemical approaches to molecular recognition.     

The small planarization barriers for the amino group in the nucleic acid bases

The amino group in the nucleic acid bases frequently interacts with other bases or with other molecular systems. Thus any nonplanarity of the amino group may affect the molecular recognition of nucleic acids. Ab initio Hartree-Fock (HF) and second-order Moller-Plesset perturbation (MP2) levels of theory have been used to obtain the equilibrium geometries of the C(l) and C(s) structures for five common nucleic acid bases. The energy barriers between the C(l) and C(s) structures have also been predicted. A series of correlation consistent basis sets up to cc-pCVQZ and aug-cc-pVQZ has been used to systematically study the dependence of the amino group nonplanarity. The equilibrium geometries of the nucleic acid bases with an amino group, including adenine, guanine, and cytosine, are examined carefully. At the MP2 level of theory, larger basis sets decrease the extent of nonplanarity of the amino group, but the decrease slows down when the QZ basis sets are used, demonstrating the intrinsic property of nonplanarity for guanine. For adenine and cytosine the situation is less clear; as the HF limit is approached, these two structures become planar. Addition of core correlation effects or diffuse functions further decreases the degree of nucleic acid base nonplanarity, in comparison to the original cc-pVXZ (X=D, T, and Q) basis sets. The aug-cc-pVXZ basis shows smaller degrees of nonplanarity than the cc-pCVXZ sets. The aug-cc-pVXZ basis is less size dependent than the cc-pVXZ and cc-pCVXZ sets in the prediction of the amino-group-related bond angles and dihedral angles and energy barriers for adenine, guanine, and cytosine. The cc-pCVQZ and aug-cc-pVQZ MP2 results may be regarded as benchmark predictions for the five common bases. The predicted classical barriers to planarization are 0.02 (adenine), 0.74 (guanine), and 0.03(cytosine) kcal mol(-1).     

Quencher-free molecular beacons: a new strategy in fluorescence based nucleic acid analysis

Molecular beacons (MBs) have been used as viable fluorescent probes in nucleic acid analysis. Many researchers around the world continue to modify the MBs to suit their needs. As a result, a number of nucleic acid probing systems with close resemblance to the MBs are being reported from time to time. Quencher-free molecular beacons (QF-MBs) are a significant modification of the conventional MB; in QF-MBs the quencher part has been eliminated. Despite the absence of the quencher, the QF-MBs can identify specific target DNA. They can also be used in SNP typing and in real-time PCR analysis for quantification of DNAs. The design, factors behind functioning and applications of different types of QF-MBs and closely related quencher-free nucleic acid probing systems (QF-NAPs) have been described in this tutorial review.     

Nucleic Acid Nanoprobes for Biosensor Development in Complex Matrices

Nucleic acid probes in living organisms play an essential role in therapeutics and diagnosis.Through the imaging and sensing of nucleic acid probes in complex biological matrices,a variety of diseases-related biological process,pathogenic process,or pharmacological responses to a therapeutic intervention have been discovered.However,a critical challenge of nucleic acid probes applied in complex matrices lies in enhancing the stability of nucleic acid probes,especially when it suffers from nuclease degradation and protein adsorption.In order to enhance the application of nucleic acid nanoprobes in complex matrices,great efforts have been devoted to improving the stability of probes operated in complex media,including construction of nucleic acid nanoprobes with nuclease resistance and protein adsorption resistance,sample pretreatment,anti-biofouling and signal correction.In this review,we aim to summarize recent advances in the stability of nucleic acid nanoprobes in complex matrices,including the methods of enhancing the stability of probes or signals,and the application of nucleic acid nanoprobes for disease diagnosis.     

Interactions of Safranin T with Nucleic Acids

The interactions of Safranin T (ST) with several nucleic acids have been investigated by electrochemical, UV‐visible and CD spectroscopic techniques. The form of the nucleic acid‐ST complexes is sensitive to the ratio of the two species. Two electrochemically inactive complexes such as, nucleic acid‐ST and nucleic acid‐2ST, were formed while ST interacts with nucleic acids. Two processes were obtained from spectral experiments: (1) at the high value of R (R is defined as the ratio of the total concentration of ST to that of nucleic acid), ST is groove‐binding with stacking, (2) at the low value of R, ST is groove‐binding without stacking. Intrinsic binding constants were obtained by spectral methods. The experiments also show that electrostatic binding plays an important role in the interaction of ST with nucleic acids.     

Study on suitability of KOD DNA polymerase for enzymatic production of artificial nucleic acids using base/sugar modified nucleoside triphosphates

Recently, KOD and its related DNA polymerases have been used for preparing various modified nucleic acids, including not only base-modified nucleic acids, but also sugar-modified ones, such as bridged/locked nucleic acid (BNA/LNA) which would be promising candidates for nucleic acid drugs. However, thus far, reasons for the effectiveness of KOD DNA polymerase for such purposes have not been clearly elucidated. Therefore, using mutated KOD DNA polymerases, we studied here their catalytic properties upon enzymatic incorporation of nucleotide analogues with base/sugar modifications. Experimental data indicate that their characteristic kinetic properties enabled incorporation of various modified nucleotides. Among those KOD mutants, one achieved efficient successive incorporation of bridged nucleotides with a 2'-ONHCH?CH?-4' linkage. In this study, the characteristic kinetic properties of KOD DNA polymerase for modified nucleoside triphosphates were shown, and the effectiveness of genetic engineering in improvement of the enzyme for modified nucleotide polymerization has been demonstrated.