Double-coding nucleic acids: introduction of a nucleobase sequence in the major groove of the DNA duplex using double-headed nucleotides.

A series of double-headed nucleosides were synthesized using the Sonogashira cross-coupling reaction. In the reactions, additional nucleobases (thymine, cytosine, adenine, or guanine) were attached to the 5-position of 2'-deoxyuridine or 2'-deoxycytidine through a propyne linker. The modified nucleosides were incorporated into oligonucleotides, and these were combined in different duplexes that were analyzed by thermal denaturation studies. All of the monomers were well tolerated in the DNA duplexes and induced only small changes in the thermal stability. Consecutive incorporations of the monomers led to increases in duplex stability owing to increased stacking interactions. The modified nucleotide monomers maintained the Watson-Crick base pair fidelity. Stable duplexes were observed with heavily modified oligonucleotides featuring 14 consecutive incorporations of different double-headed nucleotide monomers. Thus, modified duplexes with an array of nucleobases on the exterior of the duplex were designed. Molecular dynamics simulations demonstrated that the additional nucleobases could expose their Watson-Crick and/or Hoogsteen faces for recognition in the major groove. This presentation of nucleobases may find applications in providing molecular information without unwinding the duplex.

High-affinity RNA targeting by oligonucleotides displaying aromatic stacking and amino groups in the major groove. Comparison of triazoles and phenyl substituents.

Three 5-modified 2'-deoxyuridine nucleosides were synthesized and incorporated into oligonucleotides and compared with the previously published 5-(1-phenyl-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)-2'-deoxyuridine monomer W. The introduction of an aminomethyl group on the phenyl group led to monomer X, which was found to thermally stabilize a 9-mer DNA:RNA duplex, presumably through the partial neutralization of the negative charge of the backbone. By also taking advantage of the stacking interactions in the major groove of two or more of the monomer X, an extremely high thermal stability was obtained. A regioisomer of the phenyltriazole substituent, that is the 5-(4-phenyl-1,2,3-triazol-1-yl)-2'-deoxyuridine monomer Y, was found to destabilize the DNA:RNA duplex significantly, but stacking in the major groove compensated for this when two to four monomers were incorporated consecutively. Finally, the 5-phenyl-2'-deoxyuridine monomer Z was incorporated for comparison, and it was found to give a more neutral influence on duplex stability indicating less efficient stacking interactions. The duplexes were investigated by CD spectroscopy and MD simulations.

Time-resolved measurements of intracellular ATP in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae using a new type of nanobiosensor.

Adenosine 5'-triphosphate is a universal molecule in all living cells, where it functions in bioenergetics and cell signaling. To understand how the concentration of ATP is regulated by cell metabolism and in turn how it regulates the activities of enzymes in the cell it would be beneficial if we could measure ATP concentration in the intact cell in real time. Using a novel aptamer-based ATP nanosensor, which can readily monitor intracellular ATP in eukaryotic cells with a time resolution of seconds, we have performed the first on-line measurements of the intracellular concentration of ATP in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These ATP measurements show that the ATP concentration in the yeast cell is not stationary. In addition to an oscillating ATP concentration, we also observe that the concentration is high in the starved cells and starts to decrease when glycolysis is induced. The decrease in ATP concentration is shown to be caused by the activity of membrane-bound ATPases such as the mitochondrial F(0)F(1) ATPase-hydrolyzing ATP and the plasma membrane ATPase (PMA1). The activity of these two ATPases are under strict control by the glucose concentration in the cell. Finally, the measurements of intracellular ATP suggest that 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) may have more complex function than just a catabolic block. Surprisingly, addition of 2-DG induces only a moderate decline in ATP. Furthermore, our results suggest that 2-DG may inhibit the activation of PMA1 after addition of glucose.

Aptamers embedded in polyacrylamide nanoparticles: a tool for in vivo metabolite sensing.

We describe a new type of aptamer-based optical nanosensor which uses the embedding of target responsive oligonucleotides in porous polyacrylamide nanoparticles to eliminate nuclease instability. The latter is a common problem in the use of aptamer sensors in biological environments. These aptamers embedded in nanoparticles (AptaNPs) are proposed as a tool in real-time metabolite measurements in living cells. The AptaNPs comprise 30 nm polyacrylamide nanoparticles, prepared by inverse microemulsion polymerization, which contain water-soluble aptamer switch probes (ASPs) trapped in the porous matrix of the nanoparticles. The matrix acts as a molecular fence allowing rapid diffusion of small metabolites into the particles to interact with the aptamer molecules, but at the same time it retains the larger aptamer molecules inside the nanoparticles providing protection against intracellular degradation. We tested the ability of the AptaNPs to measure the adenine-nucleotide content in yeast cells. Our results successfully demonstrate the potential for monitoring any metabolite of interest in living cells by selecting specific aptamers and embedding them in nanoparticles.

Nucleic acid duplexes with zippers of additional nucleobases and aromatics in minor or major groove.

Two series of thymidine derivatives with additional nucleobases/aromatics attached to either the 5'(S)-C- or the 5-position were prepared by epoxide opening and/or "click chemistry" cycloaddition protocols and introduced into DNA duplexes. Interstrand base-base communication in the minor groove and intrastrand stacking interactions in the major groove were detected.