Opening of the extraordinarily stable mini-hairpin d(GCGAAGC). |
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| Authors: | B Joll s, M R fr giers, A Laigle |
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| Affiliation: | B Jollès, M Réfrégiers, and A Laigle |
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| Abstract: | For the purposes of the antisense strategy oligodeoxyribonucleotides can be protected against serum and cell nuclease digestion by tagging at their 3'-end with a sequence naturally forming a very stable hairpin, d(GCGAAGC). This nuclease-resistant hairpin is also known for its high thermostability. We demonstrate in this study that attachment of d(GCGAAGC) at the 3'-end of an oligodeoxyribonucleotide does not hinder hybridization of the 5'-part of this oligonucleotide to a complementary DNA strand. Moreover, the hairpin is in equilibrium between a folded and an open structure, with an energy minimum in favor of pairing if it is possible, even with mismatches. |
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