New Peptide Nucleic Acids - Isis Project No 66/1175/1332

A new generation of peptide nucleic acids (PNA) has been developed at Oxford University. These are chiral and have several advantages over the current generation of PNAs.

Background

Stable oligonucleotide analogues have numerous applications in diagnostics and as research reagents. They may also have potential as therapeutic agents, inhibiting gene expression by interaction with DNA (gene silencing) or RNA (anti-sense). The negatively charged sugar-phosphate backbone of DNA or RNA has been replaced by a poly-peptide backbone in the new PNA leading to enhanced stability and the formation of stronger hybrids with complementary RNA and DNA.

The Oxford Invention

Researchers at Oxford have developed new dipeptide units to replace the sugar-phosphate backbone of DNA. These consist of a "nucleo-amino acid" derived from proline and different types of "spacer amino acid", which provides conformational constraint and selectivity. The spacer amino acid is at the N-terminus of the dipeptide unit for improved coupling of the dipeptide units and for ease of derivitisation at the 5' terminus of the chiral PNA. Spacer amino acids have been found which provide selective binding to either RNA or DNA.

Advantages

Chirality - resulting in a single enantiomer product. This will have advantages in quality control.
Variable spacer - permits backbone variations to change the properties of the PNA e.g. hydrophobicity, charge, etc.
Tight Binding and Selectivity - strong binding to RNA and/or DNA.

Commercialisation Opportunity

Patent applications have been filed to protect this invention. Companies interested in the commercial exploitation of this technology should contact Isis Innovation.

Keywords

Peptide nucleic acids, PNA, PNAs, PNA's, RNA interference, RNAi, siRNA, antisense, gene silencing, gene knockdown

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