Synthesis and properties of novel base-discriminating fluorescent (BDF) nucleosides.

We designed a new type of pyrene-labeled base-discrimination fluorescent (BDF) nucleosides (Py)U, (Py)C, (8Py)A and (MePy)dA, which emitted strong fluorescence only when the bases opposite the BDF base are A, G, T and C, respectively. The DNA probes containing four different BDF bases enable us to distinguish single base alterations by simply mixing with a sample solution of target DNA.