Structural analysis of the catalytic core of human telomerase RNA by FRET and molecular modeling.

Telomerase is the ribonucleoprotein reverse transcriptase involved in the maintenance of the telomeres, the termini of eukaryotic chromosomes. The RNA component of human telomerase (hTR) consists of 451 nucleotides with the 5' half folding into a highly conserved catalytic core comprising the template region and an adjacent pseudoknot domain (nucleotides 1-208). While the secondary structure of hTR is established, there is little understanding of its three-dimensional (3D) architecture.

PNA forms an i-motif.

A C-rich PNA hexanucleotide, p(C5T), has been shown to form an i-motif by nanoelectrospray ionization mass spectrometry coupled with H/D exchange, to have thermal stability comparable with its DNA analogue, but to exist over a much narrower pH range.

Dynamic covalent chemistry on self-templating PNA oligomers: formation of a bimolecular PNA quadruplex.

The tetramolecular PNA quadruplex motif has been probed using a dynamic covalent chemistry (DCC) approach to create and characterize a bimolecular PNA quadruplex.

Formation of an interlocked quadruplex dimer by d(GGGT).

A tetranucleotide sequence d(GGGT) has been shown to self-assemble into an interlocking quadruplex dimer. UV-melting studies indicated the existence of two species that each showed distinct quadruplex melting transitions, a low-T(m) species, Q(l), and a high-T(m) species, Q(h). Conditions were controlled to favor the formation of either Q(l) or Q(h).

A PNA4 quadruplex.

A tetrameric PNA, TGGG, has been shown to form an intermolecular G-quadruplex. Nanoelectrospray mass spectrometry, combined with solution-phase H/D exchange, established formation of a specific tetramolecular complex. UV melting studies show that this complex undergoes a quadruplex melting transition.

Enhanced cooperative binding of oligonucleotides to form DNA duplexes mediated by metal ion chelation.

Metal chelating iminodiacetic acid moieties were appended to abutting ends of two 9-mer oligonucleotides designed to hybridize contiguously on an 18-mer target. Chelation of 1 equivalent of Gd3+ cooperatively increases affinities of the oligonucleotides to the single stranded DNA target as evidenced by a 15 degrees C increase in Tm of the complex.

Synthesis of a polymer-supported oxazolidine aldehyde for asymmetric chemistry.

An expedient synthesis of the polymer-supported aldehyde 3, as a Garner aldehyde equivalent, is described. Oxazolidine 3 may be obtained through preformation of aldehyde linker 4 in solution and loaded onto amine-terminating resin under peptide-coupling conditions, or alternatively via oxidation of polymer-bound alcohol 14. The integrity of the serine-derived stereocenter is maintained through all steps of the synthesis.

Advantage of the ether linkage between the positive charge and the cholesteryl skeleton in cholesterol-based amphiphiles as vectors for gene delivery.

Twelve novel cationic cholesterol derivatives with different linkage types between the cationic headgroup and the cholesteryl backbone have been developed. These have been tested for their efficacies as gene transfer agents as mixtures with dioleoyl phosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE). A pronounced improvement in transfection efficiency was observed when the cationic center was linked to the steroid backbone using an ether type bond.