Antisense Properties of Duplex- and Triplex-Forming PNAs
Year: 1996
Type: article
Abstract: The potential of peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) as specific inhibitors of translation has been studied. PNAs with a mixed purine/pyrimidine sequence form duplexes, while homopyrimidine PNAs form (PNA)2/RNA triplexes with complementary sequences on RNA. We show here that neither of these PNA/RNA structures are substrates for RNase H. Translation experiments in cell-free extracts showed that a 15mer duplex-forming PNA blocked translation in a dose-dependent manner when the target was 5'-proximal to the AUG start codon on the RNA, whereas similar 10-, 15- or 20mer PNAs had no effect when targeted towards sequences in the coding region. Triplex-forming 10mer PNAs were efficient and specific antisense agents with a target overlapping the AUG start codon and caused arrest of ribosome elongation with a target positioned in the coding region of the mRNA. Furthermore, translation could be blocked with a 6mer bisPNA or with a clamp PNA, forming partly a triplex, partly a duplex, with its target sequence in the coding region of the mRNA.
Source: Nucleic Acids Research
DOI: 10.1093/nar/24.3.494
Authors: H. Knudsen, P. E. Nielsen
Institution: University of Copenhagen
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2010476099