Functional tuning of nucleic acids by chemical modifications: Tailored oligonucleotides as drugs, devices, and diagnostics

• Published in: Chemical record 2003-01, Vol.3 (1), p.51-60
• Main Authors: Verma, Sandeep, Jäger, Stefan, Thum, Oliver, Famulok, Michael
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biosensing Techniques - methods; Computers, Molecular; DNA; Drug Design; functionalized DNA; modified nucleotides; Nucleic Acids - chemistry; Nucleosides - chemical synthesis; oligonucleotides; Oligonucleotides - chemistry
• ISSN: 1527-8999; 1528-0691
• DOI: 10.1002/tcr.10047

Chemical modifications of nucleic acids present vast opportunities for extending the functions and properties of these biomolecules. In general, efforts invested in this direction pertain to the introduction of reactive functional groups for further derivatizations of oligonucleotides with numerous reporter groups and for equipping nucleic acids with catalytic chemical moieties. This review deals with representative chemical modifications in the nucleobases, sugars, and the phosphate ester backbone and their application from novel catalytic RNA selection to nucleic acid‐based biosensors. © 2003 The Japan Chemical Journal Forum and Wiley Periodicals, Inc., Chem Rec 3: 51–60; 2003: Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI 10.1002/tcr.10047 Chemical modifications of nucleic acids present vast opportunities for extending the functions and properties of these biomolecules. In general, efforts invested in this direction pertain to the introduction of reactive functional groups for further derivatizations of oligonucleotides with numerous reporter groups and for equipping nucleic acids with catalytic chemical moieties. The figure above shows the most common sites in oligonucleotides for the introduction of modifications or additional functionalities.