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Updated: Dec 21, 2025
Sequence-specific and Selective Recognition of Double-stranded RNAs over Single-stranded RNAs by Chemically Modified Peptide Nucleic Acids
Published on: September 21, 2017
Targeting nucleic acids with a G-triplex-to-G-quadruplex transformation and stabilization using a peptide-PNA G-tract
Cui-Jiao Wen1, Jia-Yuan Gong, Ke-Wei Zheng
1State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, P. R. China. zhengkw6@mail.sysu.edu.cn z.tan@ioz.ac.cn.
Abstract:
A dual-functional peptide-PNA (peptide nucleic acid) conjugate consisting of a PNA G3-tract and an RHAU23 peptide is devised to target nucleic acids bearing three tandem guanine tracts (G-tracts). The PNA G3-tract joins the three G-tracts to form a stable bimolecular G-quadruplex (G4) and the resulting G4 is then bound by the RHAU23 moiety to form an extra stable G4-peptide complex. Owing to this synergistic dual structural enforcement, the conjugate accomplished extremely high selectivity and nM to sub-nM affinities towards its targets that are up to 1000 times greater than the small molecule G4 ligands. As a result, the conjugate impacts the tracking activity of motor proteins on DNA with superior selectivity and potency that are rarely seen in other G4-targeting approaches.
