Title
A metal-mediated base pair that discriminates between the canonical pyrimidine nucleobases
Author
Biswarup Jash, Philipp Scharf, Nikolas Sandmann, Célia Fonseca Guerra, Dominik A. Megger, Jens Müller
Year
2016
Journal
Chemical Science
Abstract
A nucleoside analogue comprising the ligand 1H-imidazo[4,5-f][1,10]phenanthroline (P) was applied to develop a molecular beacon capable of discriminating the canonical nucleobases cytosine and thymine. The beacon is based on the formation of a stable Ag+-mediated base pair between P and cytosine, whereas the presence of Ag+ strongly destabilizes nucleic acids comprising an artificial base pair between P and thymine. Metal-mediated base pair formation was investigated by temperature-dependent UV spectroscopy and CD spectroscopy and complemented by extensive DFT calculations. The molecular beacon significantly extends the application spectrum of nucleic acids with metal-mediated base pairs. It is of potential use in the detection of single-nucleotide polymorphisms.
Instrument
J-815
Keywords
Circular dichroism, DNA structure, Biochemistry