scholarly journals How can novel microscopic approaches shed light on the function of nucleic acid-based drugs?

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (13) ◽  
pp. 1623-1625 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Vocelle ◽  
Christina Chan ◽  
S Patrick Walton
Keyword(s):  
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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Li ◽  
Siyu Shen ◽  
Haoran Guo ◽  
Zhe Zhang ◽  
Lili Zhang ◽  
...  

Long interspersed element 1 (LINE-1 or L1) is the only active autonomous retrotransposon in the human genome that can serve as an endogenous upstream activator of cytoplasmic nucleic acid sensing pathways to elicit an antiviral immune response. In this study, we investigated the influence of enteroviral infection on L1 mobility. The results showed that infection with different enteroviruses, both EV-D68 and EV-A71, blocked L1 transposition. We screened diverse viral accessory proteins for L1 activity and identified EV-D68 2A, 3A, 3C, and EV-A71 ORF2p proteins as viral L1 inhibitors. EV-D68 2A suppressed L1 mobility by expression suppression of L1 proteins. Viral proteins 3A and 3C restricted ORF2p-mediated L1 reverse transcription in isolated L1 ribonucleoproteins. The newly identified enteroviral protein ORF2p inhibited the expression of L1 ORF1p. Altogether, our findings shed light on the strict modulation of L1 retrotransposons during enterovirus replication.


1998 ◽  
Vol 76 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 403-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
James M Aramini ◽  
Markus W Germann

We present a summary of our research to date on a family of self-complementary DNA decamers containing single alpha-anomeric nucleotides flanked by 3'-3' and 5'-5' phosphodiester linkages from the perspective of the salient NMR techniques employed to shed light on the structural and dynamic properties of these sequences. Research into this class of synthetic alpha-/ beta-oligonucleotides containing mixed strand disposition may have medical relevance given their recently documented efficacy as antisense therapeutics.Key words: nucleic acid NMR, alpha anomeric, polarity reversals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Corey H. Yu ◽  
Akash Bhattacharya ◽  
Mirjana Persaud ◽  
Alexander B. Taylor ◽  
Zhonghua Wang ◽  
...  

AbstractSAMHD1 impedes infection of myeloid cells and resting T lymphocytes by retroviruses, and the enzymatic activity of the protein—dephosphorylation of deoxynucleotide triphosphates (dNTPs)—implicates enzymatic dNTP depletion in innate antiviral immunity. Here we show that the allosteric binding sites of the enzyme are plastic and can accommodate oligonucleotides in place of the allosteric activators, GTP and dNTP. SAMHD1 displays a preference for oligonucleotides containing phosphorothioate bonds in the Rp configuration located 3’ to G nucleotides (GpsN), the modification pattern that occurs in a mechanism of antiviral defense in prokaryotes. In the presence of GTP and dNTPs, binding of GpsN-containing oligonucleotides promotes formation of a distinct tetramer with mixed occupancy of the allosteric sites. Mutations that impair formation of the mixed-occupancy complex abolish the antiretroviral activity of SAMHD1, but not its ability to deplete dNTPs. The findings link nucleic acid binding to the antiretroviral activity of SAMHD1, shed light on the immunomodulatory effects of synthetic phosphorothioated oligonucleotides and raise questions about the role of nucleic acid phosphorothioation in human innate immunity.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Aarum ◽  
Claudia P Cabrera ◽  
Tania A Jones ◽  
Shiron Rajendran ◽  
Rocco Adiutori ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTMost proteins in cell and tissue lysates are soluble. Here, we show that many of these proteins, including several that are implicated in neurodegenerative diseases, are maintained in a soluble and functional state by association with endogenous RNA, as degradation of RNA invariably leads to protein aggregation. We identify the importance of nucleic acid structure, with single-stranded pyrimidine-rich bulges or loops surrounded by double-stranded regions being particularly efficient in this role, revealing an apparent one-to-one protein-nucleic acid stoichiometry. The relationship of these findings to pathological protein aggregation is suggested by our discovery that protein aggregates isolated from brain tissue from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis patients can be rendered soluble after refolding by both RNA and synthetic oligonucleotides. Together, these findings open new avenues for understanding the mechanism behind protein aggregation and shed light on how certain proteins remain soluble.


Author(s):  
W. Bernard

In comparison to many other fields of ultrastructural research in Cell Biology, the successful exploration of genes and gene activity with the electron microscope in higher organisms is a late conquest. Nucleic acid molecules of Prokaryotes could be successfully visualized already since the early sixties, thanks to the Kleinschmidt spreading technique - and much basic information was obtained concerning the shape, length, molecular weight of viral, mitochondrial and chloroplast nucleic acid. Later, additonal methods revealed denaturation profiles, distinction between single and double strandedness and the use of heteroduplexes-led to gene mapping of relatively simple systems carried out in close connection with other methods of molecular genetics.


Author(s):  
Manfred E. Bayer

The first step in the infection of a bacterium by a virus consists of a collision between cell and bacteriophage. The presence of virus-specific receptors on the cell surface will trigger a number of events leading eventually to release of the phage nucleic acid. The execution of the various "steps" in the infection process varies from one virus-type to the other, depending on the anatomy of the virus. Small viruses like ØX 174 and MS2 adsorb directly with their capsid to the bacterial receptors, while other phages possess attachment organelles of varying complexity. In bacteriophages T3 (Fig. 1) and T7 the small conical processes of their heads point toward the adsorption site; a welldefined baseplate is attached to the head of P22; heads without baseplates are not infective.


Author(s):  
Dimitrij Lang

The success of the protein monolayer technique for electron microscopy of individual DNA molecules is based on the prevention of aggregation and orientation of the molecules during drying on specimen grids. DNA adsorbs first to a surface-denatured, insoluble cytochrome c monolayer which is then transferred to grids, without major distortion, by touching. Fig. 1 shows three basic procedures which, modified or not, permit the study of various important properties of nucleic acids, either in concert with other methods or exclusively:1) Molecular weights relative to DNA standards as well as number distributions of molecular weights can be obtained from contour length measurements with a sample standard deviation between 1 and 4%.


Author(s):  
Stephen D. Jett

The electrophoresis gel mobility shift assay is a popular method for the study of protein-nucleic acid interactions. The binding of proteins to DNA is characterized by a reduction in the electrophoretic mobility of the nucleic acid. Binding affinity, stoichiometry, and kinetics can be obtained from such assays; however, it is often desirable to image the various species in the gel bands using TEM. Present methods for isolation of nucleoproteins from gel bands are inefficient and often destroy the native structure of the complexes. We have developed a technique, called “snapshot blotting,” by which nucleic acids and nucleoprotein complexes in electrophoresis gels can be electrophoretically transferred directly onto carbon-coated grids for TEM imaging.


Author(s):  
B.A. Hamkalo ◽  
S. Narayanswami ◽  
A.P. Kausch

The availability of nonradioactive methods to label nucleic acids an the resultant rapid and greater sensitivity of detection has catapulted the technique of in situ hybridization to become the method of choice to locate of specific DNA and RNA sequences on chromosomes and in whole cells in cytological preparations in many areas of biology. It is being applied to problems of fundamental interest to basic cell and molecular biologists such as the organization of the interphase nucleus in the context of putative functional domains; it is making major contributions to genome mapping efforts; and it is being applied to the analysis of clinical specimens. Although fluorescence detection of nucleic acid hybrids is routinely used, certain questions require greater resolution. For example, very closely linked sequences may not be separable using fluorescence; the precise location of sequences with respect to chromosome structures may be below the resolution of light microscopy(LM); and the relative positions of sequences on very small chromosomes may not be feasible.


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