Synthesis of a Cyclopentane Amide DNA Analogue and Its Base Pairing Properties

Abstract

cpa-DNA monomers containing the bases adenine and thymine have been synthesized starting from the known compound 1 in 12 steps. Partially and fully modified cpa-thymidine and cpa-adenosine containing oligodeoxynucleotides were synthesized by standard oligonucleotide chemistry. Fully modified homo-cpa-A sequences lead to duplex destabilization by ?1.4°C/mod. relative to DNA. As its congener bca-DNA, cpa-DNA prefers left-handed duplex formation where possible.     

Synthesis and antisense properties of oligodeoxyribonucleotides containing C5-substituted arabinofuranosyluracil

An oligodeoxyribonucleotide (ODN) containing three C5-substituted arabinofuranosyluracils was synthesized by the post-synthetic modification method from the ODN containing three C5-substituted 2,2'-anhydrouridines. The stability of the modified ODN/DNA duplex was lower than that of the corresponding normal duplex but that of the modified ODN/RNA duplex showed little change. The modified ODN could induce RNase H activity and was resistant against nuclease.     

Azole substituted oligonucleotides promote antiparallel triplex formation at non-homopurine duplex targets.

The ability of certain azole substituted oligodeoxy-ribonucleotides to promote antiparallel triple helix formation with duplex targets having CG or TA interruptions in the otherwise homopurine sequence was examined. 2'-Deoxyribonucleosides of the azoles, which include pyrazole, imidazole, 1,2,4-triazole and 1,2,3,4-tetrazole were synthesized using the stereo-specific sodium salt glycosylation procedure. These nucleosides were successfully incorporated using solid-support, phosphoramidite chemistry, into oligonucleotides designed to interact with the non-homopurine duplex targets. The interaction of these modified oligonucleotides with all four possible base pairs was evaluated and compared to similar data for a series of natural oligonucleotides. The oligonucleotides containing simple azoles enhanced the triplex forming ability considerably at non-homopurine targets. Binding of these modified oligonucleotides to duplex targets containing TA inversion sites was particularly noteworthy, and compare favorably to unmodified oligonucleotides for binding to duplex targets containing CG as well as TA base pairs. The selectivity exhibited by certain azoles is suggestive of base pair specific interactions. Thus, the azoles evaluated during this study show considerable promise for efforts to develop generalized triplex formation at non-homopurine duplex sequences.     

β-PNA: peptide nucleic acid (PNA) with a chiral center at the β-position of the PNA backbone

Peptide nucleic acid (PNA) monomers with a methyl group at the β-position have been synthesized. The modified monomers were incorporated into PNA oligomers using Fmoc chemistry for solid-phase synthesis. Thermal denaturation and circular dichroism (CD) studies have shown that PNA containing the S-form monomers was well suited to form a hybrid duplex with DNA, whose stability was comparable to that of unmodified PNA–DNA duplex, whereas PNA containing the R-form monomers was not.     

Oligonucleotide analogues bearing an acyclonucleoside linked by an internucleotide amide bond

Oligonucleotide analogues bearing an acyclocytidine linked to thymidine with an amide (3′-O-CH₂-CO-N-5′) bond were synthesized. Melting curves of duplexes formed by modified oligonucleotides and complementary natural oligomers were obtained and thermodynamic parameters of their formation were measured. Replacement of dCpT by a modified dinucleotide only moderately decreased the melting temperature of these modified duplexes in comparison with unmodified duplexes containing complementary natural bases. CD spectra of modified duplexes were studied, and the duplex spatial structures are discussed.     

Synthesis and properties of DNA duplexes containing hydrocarbon bridges instead of a nucleoside residue

DNA duplexes 14 bp long containing an EcoRII and MvaI restriction site in which a nucleoside is substituted by 1,3-diaminopropane or 1,3-propanediol residue have been chemically synthesized. Diaminopropane bridge was introduced by the chemical ligation, whereas the oligonucleotide containing propanediol was prepared by automatic solid phase phosphoroamidite method on "Victoria-4M" synthesizer. As CD and UV spectra show, the modification destabilises the duplex by 18-20 degrees C without essential distortion of the double helix, except for increase of the conformational mobility in the modified site.     

Oligonucleotide analogues bearing an acyclonucleoside linked by an internucleotide amide bond

Oligonucleotide analogues bearing an acyclocytidine linked to thymidine by an amide (3'-O-CH2-CO-N-5') bond were synthesized. Melting curves of duplexes formed by modified oligonucleotides and complementary natural oligomers were obtained and thermodynamic parameters of their formation were measured. Replacement of dCpT by a modified dinucleotide only moderately decreased the melting temperature of these modified duplexes in comparison with unmodified duplexes containing complementary natural bases. CD spectra of modified duplexes were studied, and the duplex spatial structures are discussed. The English version of the paper: Russian Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry, 2008, vol. 34, no. 2; see also http://www.maik.ru.     

Synthesis of a 33-member polynucleotide containing the "core" att site of phage lambda DNA and its cloning

Two polynucleotides containing 33 monomeric units were synthesized by a solid-phase phosphotriester method. These polynucleotides form a duplex with protruding 5'-ends, which allows to clone the duplex in EcoRI site of a cloning vehicle. Each polynucleotide was purified by electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel, and the duplex obtained was cloned in EcoRI site of pUR 222 plasmid DNA. The structure of the cloned duplex containing the "core" att site of phage lambda was confirmed by sequencing.     

Determination of the major tautomeric form of the covalently modified adenine in the (+)-CC-1065-DNA adduct by 1H and 15N NMR studies

(+)-CC-1065 is an extremely potent antitumor antibiotic produced by Streptomyces zelensis. The potent cytotoxic effects of the drug are thought to be due to the formation of a covalent adduct with DNA through N3 of adenine. Although the covalent linkage sites between (+)-CC-1065 and DNA have been determined, the tautomeric form of the covalently modified adenine in the (+)-CC-1065-DNA duplex adduct was not defined. A [6-15N]deoxyadenosine-labeled 12 base pair non-self-complementary oligomer, d(GGCGGAGTT*AGG).d(CCTAACTCCGCC) (asterisk indicates 15N-labeled base), containing the (+)-CC-1065 most preferred binding sequence 5'AGTTA, was synthesized and modified with (+)-CC-1065. This [6-15N]deoxyadenosine-labeled 12-mer duplex adduct was then studied by 1H and 15N NMR. One-dimensional NOE difference and two-dimensional NOESY 1H NMR experiments on the nonisotopically labeled 12-mer duplex adduct demonstrate that the 6-amino protons of the covalently modified adenine exhibit two signals at 9.19 and 9.08 ppm. Proton NMR experiments on the [6-15N]deoxyadenosine-labeled 12-mer duplex adduct show that the two resonance signals for adenine H6 observed on the nonisotopically labeled duplex adduct were split into doublets by the 15N nucleus with coupling constants of 91.3 Hz for non-hydrogen-bonded and 86.8 Hz for hydrogen-bonded amino protons. Parallel 15N NMR experiments on the [6-15N]deoxyadenosine-labeled (+)-CC-1065-12-mer duplex adduct show a triplet-like signal around -276.9 ppm and coupling constants of 91.5 and 85.6 Hz.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Improved chemistry for oligodeoxyribonucleotide synthesis substantially improves restriction enzyme cleavage of a synthetic 35mer.

Two DNA duplexes of identical sequence and 35 nt in length were synthesized by an original and a highly improved version of phosphoramidite chemistry. By base composition analysis, DNA synthesized by improved chemistry (termed DMTS-imp) contained no detectable modified bases while DNA synthesized by the original chemistry (termed DMTS-std) had a large number of modifications. Under optimal reaction conditions, HhaI and RsaI cleaved the DMTS-std duplex to 76-77% completion and the DMTS-imp duplex to 96-99% completion. Restriction analysis and piperidine treatment yielded estimates of approximately 3.0% modified nucleotides in DMTS-std and approximately 1.0% in DMTS-imp. Overall, the improvements in chemistry increased the restriction efficiency of synthetic DNA up to 10-fold.     

Site-specifically located 8-amino-2'-deoxyguanosine: thermodynamic stability and mutagenic properties in Escherichia coli

2-Nitropropane (2-NP), an important industrial solvent and a component of cigarette smoke, is mutagenic in bacteria and carcinogenic in rats. 8-Amino-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-amino-dG) is one of the types of DNA damage found in liver, the target organ in 2-NP-treated rats. To investigate the thermodynamic properties of 8-amino-dG opposite each of the four DNA bases, we have synthesized an 11mer, d(CCATCG*CTACC), in which G* represents the modified base. By annealing a complementary DNA strand to this modified 11mer, four sets of duplexes were generated each containing one of the four DNA bases opposite the lesion. Circular dichroism studies indicated that 8-amino-dG did not alter the global helical properties of natural right-handed B-DNA. The thermal stability of each duplex was examined by UV melting measurements and compared with its unmodified counterpart. For the unmodified 11mer, the relative stability of the complementary DNA bases opposite G was in the order C > T > G > A, as determined from their -DeltaG degrees values. The free energy change of each modified duplex was lower than its unmodified counterpart, except for the G*:G pair that exhibited a higher melting transition and a larger -DeltaG degrees than the G:G duplex. Nevertheless, the stability of the modified 11mer duplex also followed the order C > T > G > A when placed opposite 8-amino-dG. To explore if 8-amino-dG opposite another 8-amino-dG has any advantage in base pairing, a G*:G* duplex was evaluated, which showed that the stability of this duplex was similar to the G*:G duplex. Mutagenesis of 8-amino-dG in this sequence context was studied in Escherichia coli, which showed that the lesion is weakly mutagenic (mutation frequency approximately 10(-3)) but still can induce a variety of targeted and semi-targeted mutations.     

Structure and in vitro replication of DNA templates containing 7,8-dihydro-8-oxoadenine.

Adenine residues in DNA are oxidized under the action of ionizing radiation at the C-8 position to give 7,8-dihydro-8-oxoadenine. The formation of this lesion can be considered a cause of mutations and carcinogenesis. Oligodeoxyribonucleotides 39 and 47 bases long containing a single 7,8-dihydro-8-oxoadenine (8-hydroxyadenine) residue were synthesized by using nucleoside phosphoramidites. They were used as templates to study the copies obtained in vitro by the Klenow fragment and the thermostable Taq DNA polymerase. 7,8-Dihydro-8-oxoadenine does not block the replication and thymine is incorporated opposite the damage. The modifications of the DNA duplex conformation provoked by 7,8-dihydro-8-oxoadenine are minor. 1H-NMR spectroscopy shows that the duplex is in a B form, the sugar in a normal position in the helix and the modified base in the anti position. NMR confirms that 7,8-dihydro-8-oxoadenine exists predominantly in the keto form.     

Synthesis and hybridization properties of RNA containing 8-chloroadenosine

8-Chloroadenosine (8-Cl-Ado) has shown potential as a chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of multiple myeloma and certain leukemias. 8-Cl-Ado treatment leads to a decrease in global RNA levels and incorporation of the analog into cellular RNA in malignant cells. To investigate the effects of 8-Cl-Ado modifications on RNA structure and function, an 8-Cl-Ado phosphoramidite and controlled-pore glass support were synthesized and used to introduce 8-Cl-Ado at internal and 3'- terminal positions, respectively. RNA oligonucleotides containing 8-chloroadenine (8-Cl-A) residues were synthesized and hybridized with complementary RNA strands. Circular dichroism spectroscopy of the resulting RNA duplexes revealed that the modified nucleobase does not perturb the overall A-form helix geometry. The thermal stabilities of 8-Cl-Ado modified duplexes were determined by UV thermal denaturation analysis and were compared with analogous natural duplexes containing standard and mismatched base pairs. The 8-Cl-Ado modification destabilizes RNA duplexes by approximately 5 kcal/mole, approximately as much as a U:U mismatched base pair. The duplex destabilization of 8-Cl-A may result from perturbation of Watson-Crick base pairing induced by conformational preferences of 8-halogenated nucleosides.     

Oligonucleotides containing fluorescent 2'-deoxyisoinosine: solid-phase synthesis and duplex stability.

The fluorescent nucleoside 2'-deoxyisoinosine (2, isoId) has been incorporated into oligonucleotides. For this purpose the phosphonate 3a and the phosphoramidite 3b, as well as the polymer-linked 3d, have been synthesized and oligonucleotides were prepared by P(III) solid-phase chemistry. One or two isoId-residues were introduced into the oligomer d(T12), replacing dT either in the middle or at the 3'- and 5'-ends. The isoId-containing oligomers were hybridized with a modified d(A)12 containing the conventional nucleosides (dA, dT, dG and dC) opposite to isoId. The replacement of one dT by isoId in the centre of the duplex reduced the Tm value by approximately 15 degrees C and a decrease of approximately 25 degrees C was found when two isoId residues were incorporated. Thermodynamic data were determined from the melting curves. The destabilization was almost independent of the four naturally occurring nucleosides located opposite to isoId. The isoId (2) seems to be stacked in the duplex when dT-dA base pairs are the nearest neighbours; an internal loop is formed in the case of oligomers containing two consecutive isold residues.     

Interstrand disulfide cross-linking of internal sugar residues in duplex RNA

Disulfide cross-linking is being used increasingly more to study the structure and dynamics of nucleic acids. We have previously developed a procedure for the formation of disulfide cross-links through the sugar-phosphate backbone of nucleic acids. Here we report the preparation and characterization of an RNA duplex containing a disulfide interstrand cross-link. A self-complementary oligoribonucleotide duplex containing an interstrand cross-link was prepared from the corresponding 2'-amino modified oligomer. Selective modification of the 2'-amino group with an aliphatic isocyanate, containing a protected disulfide, gave the corresponding 2'-urea derivative in excellent yield. An RNA duplex containing an intrahelical, interstrand disulfide cross-link was subsequently prepared by a thiol disulfide exchange reaction in nearly quantitative yield as judged by denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (DPAGE). The cross-linked RNA was further characterized by enzymatic digestion and the Structure of the cross-link lesion was verified by comparison to an authentic sample, prepared by chemical synthesis. The effect of the chemical modifications on duplex stability was determined by UV thermal denaturation experiments. The intrahelical cross-link stabilized the duplex considerably: the disulfide cross-linked oligomer had a melting temperature that was ca. 40 degrees C higher than that of the noncross-linked oligomer.     

SYNTHESIS AND HYBRIDIZATION PROPERTIES OF RNA CONTAINING 8-CHLOROADENOSINE

ABSTRACT

8-Chloroadenosine (8-Cl-Ado) has shown potential as a chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of multiple myeloma and certain leukemias. 8-Cl-Ado treatment leads to a decrease in global RNA levels and incorporation of the analog into cellular RNA in malignant cells. To investigate the effects of 8-Cl-Ado modifications on RNA structure and function, an 8-Cl-Ado phosphoramidite and controlled-pore glass support were synthesized and used to introduce 8-Cl-Ado at internal and 3′- terminal positions, respectively. RNA oligonucleotides containing 8-chloroadenine (8-Cl-A) residues were synthesized and hybridized with complementary RNA strands. Circular dichroism spectroscopy of the resulting RNA duplexes revealed that the modified nucleobase does not perturb the overall A-form helix geometry. The thermal stabilities of 8-Cl-Ado modified duplexes were determined by UV thermal denaturation analysis and were compared with analogous natural duplexes containing standard and mismatched base pairs. The 8-Cl-Ado modification destabilizes RNA duplexes by ～5 kcal/mole, approximately as much as a U:U mismatched base pair. The duplex destabilization of 8-Cl-A may result from perturbation of Watson-Crick base pairing induced by conformational preferences of 8-halogenated nucleosides.     

Construction of a double-stranded deoxyribonucleotide sequence of 45 base pairs designed to code for S-peptide 2-14 of bovine ribonuclease A.

An artificial DNA duplex, each strand consisting of 45 monomers, is constructed from chemically synthesized deoxyriboöligonucleotides. The resulting bihelical polymer may code for a modified S-peptide of Ribonuclease A. This is the first synthetic duplex designed to code for a eukaryotic message.     

RNA-Binding affinities and crystal structure of oligonucleotides containing five-atom amide-based backbone structures

Among the hundreds of nucleic acid analogues that have been studied over the last two decades only very few exhibit backbones with linkers between residues that are either shorter or longer than the four-atom linker O3'-P-O5'-C5' connecting sugar ring moieties in DNA and RNA. 2'-Deoxyribonucleoside dimers connected by a five-atom linker O3'-CH(CH(3))-CO-NH-CH(2) (*designates a chiral center) were reported to lead to only a slight destabilization of RNA-DNA hybrids in which the DNA strand contained one or several of these amide-linked dimers (De Napoli, L., Iadonisi, A., Montesarchio, D., Varra, M., and Piccialli, G. (1995) Synthesis of thymidine dimers containing a new internucleosidic amide linkage and their incorporation into oligodeoxyribonucleotides, Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 5, 1647-1652). To analyze the influence of various chemistries of such five-atom amide linkers on the RNA-binding affinity of modified DNA strands, we have synthesized five different amide-linked dimers, including structures with homochiral linkers of the type X3'-C*H(CH(3))-CO-NH-CH(2) (X = O, CH(2)) as well as the corresponding analogues carrying methoxy groups at the 2'-position of the 3'-nucleosides. We have conducted a detailed thermodynamic analysis of duplex formation between the modified DNA and RNA, with the DNA strands containing between one and seven consecutive modified dimers. Some of the five-atom-linked dimers lead to significantly higher RNA-binding affinities compared with that of native DNA. Interestingly, the linkers with opposite stereochemistry at the chiral center stabilize duplexes between the modified DNA and RNA to different degrees. CD spectroscopy in solution and a crystal structure of an RNA-DNA duplex with a single amide-linked dimer demonstrate that the longer amide backbones do not disrupt the duplex geometry. These observations provide further evidence that stable cross-pairing between two different types of nucleic acids does not require the numbers of atoms linking their individual residues to match.     

Quantitative measurements on the duplex stability of 2,6-diaminopurine and 5-chloro-uracil nucleotides using enzymatically synthesized oligomers

2,6-Diaminopurine and 5-chloro-uracil 2'-deoxynucleoside 5'-triphosphates were synthesized from their 2'-deoxynucleosides. Using a method of creating oligonucleotides by enzymatic primer extension, dodecanucleotides representing an XbaI/SalI site and the complementary SalI/XbaI site were generated containing these base modifications. Their duplex stability was quantitatively compared by thin-layer chromatography to oligomers containing 2'-deoxyadenosine and 2'-deoxythymidine. The two unmodified oligomers already showed significant differences in dissociation temperature and binding equilibrium. Substitution with 5-chloro-2'-deoxyuridine did not affect the dissociation temperature of either oligomer, the 2,6-diaminopurine, however, led to an increase of 1.8 degrees C or 1.5 degrees C per modified base, respectively. While in the XbaI/SalI oligomer both base modifications changed the binding equilibrium, the 2,6-diaminopurine by a factor of 1.32, the 5-chloro-uracil by 0.65, no such effect was found with the complementary oligomer.