scholarly journals Advances in Therapeutic L-Nucleosides and L-Nucleic Acids with Unusual Handedness

Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 46
Author(s):  
Yuliya Dantsu ◽  
Ying Zhang ◽  
Wen Zhang

Nucleic-acid-based small molecule and oligonucleotide therapies are attractive topics due to their potential for effective target of disease-related modules and specific control of disease gene expression. As the non-naturally occurring biomolecules, modified DNA/RNA nucleoside and oligonucleotide analogues composed of L-(deoxy)riboses, have been designed and applied as innovative therapeutics with superior plasma stability, weakened cytotoxicity, and inexistent immunogenicity. Although all the chiral centers in the backbone are mirror converted from the natural D-nucleic acids, L-nucleic acids are equipped with the same nucleobases (A, G, C and U or T), which are critical to maintain the programmability and form adaptable tertiary structures for target binding. The types of L-nucleic acid drugs are increasingly varied, from chemically modified nucleoside analogues that interact with pathogenic polymerases to nanoparticles containing hundreds of repeating L-nucleotides that circulate durably in vivo. This article mainly reviews three different aspects of L-nucleic acid therapies, including pharmacological L-nucleosides, Spiegelmers as specific target-binding aptamers, and L-nanostructures as effective drug-delivery devices.

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 709-715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arun Shivalingam ◽  
Tom Brown

Naturally occurring DNA is encoded by the four nucleobases adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine. Yet minor chemical modifications to these bases, such as methylation, can significantly alter DNA function, and more drastic changes, such as replacement with unnatural base pairs, could expand its function. In order to realize the full potential of DNA in therapeutic and synthetic biology applications, our ability to ‘write’ long modified DNA in a controlled manner must be improved. This review highlights methods currently used for the synthesis of moderately long chemically modified nucleic acids (up to 1000 bp), their limitations and areas for future expansion.


Biomedicines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 628
Author(s):  
Dagmara Baraniak ◽  
Jerzy Boryski

This review covers studies which exploit triazole-modified nucleic acids in the range of chemistry and biology to medicine. The 1,2,3-triazole unit, which is obtained via click chemistry approach, shows valuable and unique properties. For example, it does not occur in nature, constitutes an additional pharmacophore with attractive properties being resistant to hydrolysis and other reactions at physiological pH, exhibits biological activity (i.e., antibacterial, antitumor, and antiviral), and can be considered as a rigid mimetic of amide linkage. Herein, it is presented a whole area of useful artificial compounds, from the clickable monomers and dimers to modified oligonucleotides, in the field of nucleic acids sciences. Such modifications of internucleotide linkages are designed to increase the hybridization binding affinity toward native DNA or RNA, to enhance resistance to nucleases, and to improve ability to penetrate cell membranes. The insertion of an artificial backbone is used for understanding effects of chemically modified oligonucleotides, and their potential usefulness in therapeutic applications. We describe the state-of-the-art knowledge on their implications for synthetic genes and other large modified DNA and RNA constructs including non-coding RNAs.


2013 ◽  
Vol 53 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 317-317
Author(s):  
Joseph Larkin ◽  
Spencer Carson ◽  
Daniel H. Stoloff ◽  
Meni Wanunu

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (44) ◽  
pp. 7197-7203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cory D. Sago ◽  
Sujay Kalathoor ◽  
Jordan P. Fitzgerald ◽  
Gwyneth N. Lando ◽  
Naima Djeddar ◽  
...  

The efficacy of nucleic acid therapies can be limited by unwanted degradation.


Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (20) ◽  
pp. 4659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Ochoa ◽  
Valeria T. Milam

In the last three decades, oligonucleotides have been extensively investigated as probes, molecular ligands and even catalysts within therapeutic and diagnostic applications. The narrow chemical repertoire of natural nucleic acids, however, imposes restrictions on the functional scope of oligonucleotides. Initial efforts to overcome this deficiency in chemical diversity included conservative modifications to the sugar-phosphate backbone or the pendant base groups and resulted in enhanced in vivo performance. More importantly, later work involving other modifications led to the realization of new functional characteristics beyond initial intended therapeutic and diagnostic prospects. These results have inspired the exploration of increasingly exotic chemistries highly divergent from the canonical nucleic acid chemical structure that possess unnatural physiochemical properties. In this review, the authors highlight recent developments in modified oligonucleotides and the thrust towards designing novel nucleic acid-based ligands and catalysts with specifically engineered functions inaccessible to natural oligonucleotides.


1984 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
John E. Hearst ◽  
Stephen T. Isaacs ◽  
David Kanne ◽  
Henry Rapoport ◽  
Kenneth Straub

Psoralen photochemistry is specific for nucleic acids and is better understood at the molecular level than are all other methods of chemical modification of nucleic acids. These compounds are used both for in vivo structure analysis and for photochemotherapy since they easily penetrate both cells and virus particles. Apparently, natural selection has selected for membrane and virus penetrability during the evolution of these natural products. Most cells are unaffected by relatively high concentrations of psoralens in the absence of ultraviolet light, and the metabolites of the psoralens have thus far not created a problem. Finally, psoralens form both monoadduct and cross-links in nucleic acid helices, the yield of each being easily controlled by the conditions used during the photochemistry.


2006 ◽  
Vol 71 (7) ◽  
pp. 929-955 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir A. Efimov ◽  
Oksana G. Chakhmakhcheva

With the aim to improve physicochemical and biological properties of natural oligonucleotides, many types of DNA analogues and mimics are designed on the basis of hydroxyproline and its derivatives, and their properties are evaluated. Among them, two types of DNA mimics representing hetero-oligomers constructed from alternating monomers of phosphono peptide nucleic acids and monomers on the base of trans-1-acetyl-4-hydroxy-L-proline (HypNA-pPNAs) and oligomers constructed from monomers containing (2S,4R)-1-acetyl-4-hydroxypyrrolidine-2-phosphonic acid backbone (pHypNAs) are of particular interest. In a set of in vitro and in vivo assays, it was shown that HypNA-pPNAs and pHypNAs demonstrated a high potential for the use in nucleic acid based diagnostics, isolation of nucleic acids and antisense experiments. A review with 53 references.


2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pawan Jolly ◽  
Pedro Estrela ◽  
Michael Ladomery

There are an increasing number of applications that have been developed for oligonucleotide-based biosensing systems in genetics and biomedicine. Oligonucleotide-based biosensors are those where the probe to capture the analyte is a strand of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), ribonucleic acid (RNA) or a synthetic analogue of naturally occurring nucleic acids. This review will shed light on various types of nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA (particularly microRNAs), their role and their application in biosensing. It will also cover DNA/RNA aptamers, which can be used as bioreceptors for a wide range of targets such as proteins, small molecules, bacteria and even cells. It will also highlight how the invention of synthetic oligonucleotides such as peptide nucleic acid (PNA) or locked nucleic acid (LNA) has pushed the limits of molecular biology and biosensor development to new perspectives. These technologies are very promising albeit still in need of development in order to bridge the gap between the laboratory-based status and the reality of biomedical applications.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 2001
Author(s):  
Silvia Mercurio ◽  
Silvia Cauteruccio ◽  
Raoul Manenti ◽  
Simona Candiani ◽  
Giorgio Scarì ◽  
...  

The microRNAs are small RNAs that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level and can be involved in the onset of neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. They are emerging as possible targets for antisense-based therapy, even though the in vivo stability of miRNA analogues is still questioned. We tested the ability of peptide nucleic acids, a novel class of nucleic acid mimics, to downregulate miR-9 in vivo in an invertebrate model organism, the ascidian Ciona intestinalis, by microinjection of antisense molecules in the eggs. It is known that miR-9 is a well-conserved microRNA in bilaterians and we found that it is expressed in epidermal sensory neurons of the tail in the larva of C. intestinalis. Larvae developed from injected eggs showed a reduced differentiation of tail neurons, confirming the possibility to use peptide nucleic acid PNA to downregulate miRNA in a whole organism. By identifying putative targets of miR-9, we discuss the role of this miRNA in the development of the peripheral nervous system of ascidians.


Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (15) ◽  
pp. 3483
Author(s):  
Peng Nie ◽  
Yanfen Bai ◽  
Hui Mei

DNA, the fundamental genetic polymer of all living organisms on Earth, can be chemically modified to embrace novel functions that do not exist in nature. The key chemical and structural parameters for genetic information storage, heredity, and evolution have been elucidated, and many xenobiotic nucleic acids (XNAs) with non-canonical structures are developed as alternative genetic materials in vitro. However, it is still particularly challenging to replace DNAs with XNAs in living cells. This review outlines some recent studies in which the storage and propagation of genetic information are achieved in vivo by expanding genetic systems with XNAs.


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