A new method of manufacturing short, single-stranded DNA molecules can solve many of the problems associated with current production methods. The new method, which is described in the scientific periodical Nature Methods, ...
Bio & Medicine
Jun 2, 2013
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1
Many intractable diseases are the result of a genetic mutation. Genome editing technology promises to correct the mutation and thus new treatments for patients. However, getting the technology to the cells that need the correction ...
Bio & Medicine
Dec 9, 2021
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152
Therapeutic oligonucleotide analogs represent a new and promising family of drugs that act on nucleic acid targets such as RNA or DNA; however, their effectiveness has been limited due to difficulty crossing the cell membrane. ...
Bio & Medicine
Jan 27, 2015
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27
Sequencing, splicing and expressing DNA may seem to be the quintessence of cutting-edge science—indeed DNA manipulation has revolutionized fields such as biofuels, chemicals and medicine. But in fact, the actual process ...
Biotechnology
Oct 2, 2012
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0
Short single strands of DNA can self-assemble to create DNA nanostructures. Scientists based in Munich, Germany, have prepared not only assembled, but even catenated oligonucleotide structures to form chain-armor DNA nanotubes ...
Materials Science
Jun 3, 2015
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23
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in Switzerland. Among the different types of cancers, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) kills the most patients and remains largely incurable. Unfortunately, even newly approved ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 6, 2022
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68
A team of researchers at the University of California has found a way to synthesize multiple genes from a group of microarray-generated oligonucleotides. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes ...
A team of researchers led by Rutgers' Samuel Gunderson has developed a novel gene silencing platform with very significant improvements over existing RNAi approaches. This may enable the development and discovery of a new ...
Feb 8, 2009
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Nucleic acid technology has revolutionized the field of biomedicine, as it can be effectively utilized in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of genetic diseases The efficacy of most oligonucleotide ...
Biochemistry
Nov 23, 2011
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0
RUDN biochemists found a way to reduce the activity of telomerase (the enzyme of cell immortality) 10-fold. The discovery could lead to new antitumor drugs and give a better understanding of how the activity of the enzyme ...
Biochemistry
Feb 12, 2019
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11
An oligonucleotide (from Greek prefix oligo-, "having few, having little") is a short nucleic acid polymer, typically with fifty or fewer bases. Although they can be formed by bond cleavage of longer segments, they are now more commonly synthesized, in a sequence-specific manner, from individual nucleoside phosphoramidites. Automated synthesizers allow the synthesis of oligonucleotides up to about 200 bases.
Oligonucleotides are characterized by the sequence of nucleotide residues that comprise the entire molecule. The length of the oligonucleotide is usually denoted by "mer" (from Greek meros, "part"). For example, a fragment of 25 bases would be called a 25-mer. Oligonucleotides readily bind, in a sequence-specific manner, to their respective complementary oligonucleotides, DNA, or RNA to form duplexes or, less often, hybrids of a higher order. This basic property serves as a foundation for the use of oligonucleotides as probes for detecting DNA or RNA. Examples of procedures that use oligonucleotides include DNA microarrays, Southern blots, ASO analysis, fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), and the synthesis of artificial genes.
Oligonucleotides composed of 2'-deoxyribonucleotides (oligodeoxyribonucleotides) are fragments of DNA and are often used in the polymerase chain reaction, a procedure that can greatly amplify almost any small amount of DNA. There, the oligonucleotide is referred to as a primer, allowing DNA polymerase to extend the oligonucleotide and replicate the complementary strand.
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