Molecules 2017, 22(11), 1856; doi:10.3390/molecules22111856
Zinc Ion-Dependent Peptide Nucleic Acid-Based Artificial Enzyme that Cleaves RNA—Bulge Size and Sequence Dependence
1
Department of Chemistry, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland
2
Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Novum, 141 83 Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 5 October 2017 / Revised: 25 October 2017 / Accepted: 27 October 2017 / Published: 29 October 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Properties and the Applications of Peptide Nucleic Acids)
Abstract
In this report, we investigate the efficiency and selectivity of a Zn2+-dependent peptide nucleic acid-based artificial ribonuclease (PNAzyme) that cleaves RNA target sequences. The target RNAs are varied to form different sizes (3 and 4 nucleotides, nt) and sequences in the bulge formed upon binding to the PNAzyme. PNAzyme-promoted cleavage of the target RNAs was observed and variation of the substrate showed a clear dependence on the sequence and size of the bulge. For targets that form 4-nt bulges, we identified systems with an improved efficacy (an estimated half-life of ca 7–8 h as compared to 11–12 h for sequences studied earlier) as well as systems with an improved site selectivity (up to over 70% cleavage at a single site as compared to 50–60% with previous targets sequences). For targets forming 3-nt bulges, the enhancement compared to previous systems was even more pronounced. Compared to a starting point of targets forming 3-nt AAA bulges (half-lives of ca 21–24 h), we could identify target sequences that were cleaved with half-lives three times lower (ca 7–8 h), i.e., at rates similar to those found for the fastest 4-nt bulge system. In addition, with the 3-nt bulge RNA target site selectivity was improved even further to reach well over 80% cleavage at a specific site. View Full-TextKeywords:
artificial ribonuclease; oligonucleotide; PNA; PNAzyme; phosphodiester cleavage; sequence selectivity; RNA bulge
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Murtola, M.; Ghidini, A.; Virta, P.; Strömberg, R. Zinc Ion-Dependent Peptide Nucleic Acid-Based Artificial Enzyme that Cleaves RNA—Bulge Size and Sequence Dependence. Molecules 2017, 22, 1856.
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