Anomeric and Enantiomeric 2'-Deoxycytidines: Base Pair Stability in the Absence and Presence of Silver Ions

Dodecamer duplex DNA containing anomeric (α/β-d) and enantiomeric (β-l/β-d) 2'-deoxycytidine mismatches was studied with respect to base pair stability in the absence and presence of silver ions. Stable duplexes with silver-mediated cytosine-cytosine pairs were formed by all anomeric and enantiomeric combinations. Stability changes were observed depending on the composition of the mismatches. Most strikingly, the new silver-mediated base pair of anomeric α-d-dC with enantiomeric β-l-dC is superior to the well-noted β-d/β-d-dC pair in terms of stability. CD spectra were used to follow global helical changes of DNA structure.

2-Methoxypyridine as a Thymidine Mimic in Watson-Crick Base Pairs of DNA and PNA: Synthesis, Thermal Stability, and NMR Structural Studies

The development of nucleic acid base-pair analogues that use new modes of molecular recognition is important both for fundamental research and practical applications. The goal of this study was to evaluate 2-methoxypyridine as a cationic thymidine mimic in the A-T base pair. The hypothesis was that including protonation in the Watson-Crick base pairing scheme would enhance the thermal stability of the DNA double helix without compromising the sequence selectivity. DNA and peptide nucleic acid (PNA) sequences containing the new 2-methoxypyridine nucleobase (P) were synthesized and studied by using UV thermal melting and NMR spectroscopy. Introduction of P nucleobase caused a loss of thermal stability of ≈10 °C in DNA-DNA duplexes and ≈20 °C in PNA-DNA duplexes over a range of mildly acidic to neutral pH. Despite the decrease in thermal stability, the NMR structural studies showed that P-A formed the expected protonated base pair at pH 4.3. Our study demonstrates the feasibility of cationic unnatural base pairs; however, future optimization of such analogues will be required.