Perspectives on conformationally constrained peptide nucleic acid (PNA): insights into the structural design, properties and applications.

ABSTRACT: Peptide nucleic acid or PNA is a synthetic DNA mimic that contains a sequence of nucleobases attached to a peptide-like backbone derived from N-2-aminoethylglycine. The semi-rigid PNA backbone acts as a scaffold that arranges the nucleobases in a proper orientation and spacing so that they can pair with their complementary bases on another DNA, RNA, or even PNA strand perfectly well through the standard Watson-Crick base-pairing. The electrostatically neutral backbone of PNA contributes to its many unique properties that make PNA an outstanding member of the xeno-nucleic acid family. Not only PNA can recognize its complementary nucleic acid strand with high affinity, but it does so with excellent specificity that surpasses the specificity of natural nucleic acids and their analogs.

SUBMITTER: Suparpprom C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9175113 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature