Oligonucleotide-templated reactions based on Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNA) probes: concept and biomedical applications

Sensing technologies based on Peptide Nucleic Acids (PNAs) and oligonucleotide-templated chemistry are perfectly suited for biomedical applications (e.g., diagnosis, prognosis and stratification of diseases) and could compete well with more traditional amplification technologies using expensive dual-labelled oligonucleotide probes. PNAs can be easily synthesised and functionalised, are more stable and are more responsive to point-mutations than their DNA counterpart. For these reasons, fluorogenic PNAs represent an interesting alternative to DNA-based molecular beacons for sensing applications in a cell-free environment, where cellular uptake is not required.