Ionic liquid-caged nucleic acids enable active folding-based molecular recognition with hydrolysis resistance.

ABSTRACT: Beyond storage and transmission of genetic information in cellular life, nucleic acids can perform diverse interesting functions, including specific target recognition and biochemical reaction acceleration; the versatile biopolymers, however, are acutely vulnerable to hydrolysis-driven degradation. Here, we demonstrate that the cage effect of choline dihydrogen phosphate permits active folding of nucleic acids like water, but prevents their phosphodiester hydrolysis unlike water. The choline-based ionic liquid not only serves as a universal inhibitor of nucleases, exceptionally extending half-lives of nucleic acids up to 6 500 000 times, but highly useful tasks of nucleic acids (e.g. mRNA detection of molecular beacons, ligand recognition of aptamers, and transesterification reaction of ri

SUBMITTER: Kang B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10783497 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature