An Introduction to Peptide Nucleic Acid

Role of Different Receptor-Surface Binding Modes in the Morphological and Electrochemical Properties of Peptide-Nucleic-Acid-Based Sensing Platforms

“…We assign our finding to different local regions of surface-exposed hydrophobic and hydrophilic functional groups for the two PNA interface systems. PNA oligomers possess regions with a high number of heteroatoms in the bases, which can increase the wettability of the interface if sufficiently exposed on the surface . The observed disparate wetting behavior for the two PNA interface systems is an initial indication that the PNA binding mode can influence the overall wetting properties of the fabricated interface systems.…”

“…Molecular assays based on the hybridization of target DNA to complementary DNA oligomer probes, which are attached to a solid surface, were first reported nearly four decades ago and have since been applied extensively in the field of molecular diagnostics using biosensors . In modern DNA biosensing detection schemes, DNA oligomer probes are often substituted by peptide nucleic acid (PNA), a promising synthetic analogue of DNA, in which the negatively charged sugar-phosphate backbone is replaced by neutral, achiral, and repeated N -(2-aminoethyl) glycine units linked by peptide bonds . PNA single strands hybridize to complementary single-stranded oligonucleotide sequences in agreement with Watson–Crick base-pairing rules by establishing hydrogen bonds between complementary nucleobases. , Moreover, the modification of the PNA backbone by various functional groups can be achieved relatively simply, enabling further tuning of the PNA properties. ,, Consequently, a wide variety of novel detection protocols using PNA were developed .…”

“…In modern DNA biosensing detection schemes, DNA oligomer probes are often substituted by peptide nucleic acid (PNA), a promising synthetic analogue of DNA, in which the negatively charged sugar-phosphate backbone is replaced by neutral, achiral, and repeated N -(2-aminoethyl) glycine units linked by peptide bonds . PNA single strands hybridize to complementary single-stranded oligonucleotide sequences in agreement with Watson–Crick base-pairing rules by establishing hydrogen bonds between complementary nucleobases. , Moreover, the modification of the PNA backbone by various functional groups can be achieved relatively simply, enabling further tuning of the PNA properties. ,, Consequently, a wide variety of novel detection protocols using PNA were developed . For example, a promising amplification strategy for the detection of single-stranded DNA was recently shown using PNA probes immobilized on Au surfaces.…”

Engineering CRISPR/Cas9 therapeutics for cancer precision medicine

“…In the 1980s, gene targeting methodology was based on DNA repair and DNA base pair recognition, which enabled scientists to make precise changes in the genome ( Batty and Wood, 2000 ; Rajski et al, 2000 ; Wood et al, 2000 ; Dalhus et al, 2009 ). The other methods that have been employed over time include zinc finger nucleases, TAL effector nucleases, peptide nucleic acids, and polyamides for efficient DNA cleavage and inducing a change in DNA sequence ( Good and Nielsen, 1999 ; Nielsen and Egholm, 1999 ; Cathomen and Joung, 2008 ; Simon et al, 2008 ; Christian et al, 2010 ; Li and Yang, 2013 ; Koeller et al, 2014 ; Gaj et al, 2016 ; Yu et al, 2019 ). However, these methods have their own limitations, such as complex designing, inefficient delivery, potential toxicity, expensive, and possible off-target effects ( Gaj et al, 2016 ; Montazersaheb et al, 2018 ; Lin and Nagase, 2020 ; Gonzalez Castro et al, 2021 ).…”

Smartphone-Interfaced Electrochemical Biosensor for microRNA Detection Based on Laser-Induced Graphene with π–π Stacked Peptide Nucleic Acid Probes

“…Notably, instead of conventional oligonucleotide probes, herein bespoke π–π stackable peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probes are designed and exploited as robust synthetic bioreceptors. PNAs offer high chemical and thermodynamic stability, even under extreme physicochemical conditions of pH and temperature, in addition to being resistant to degradation by nucleases and proteases. − Moreover, owing to their neutral pseudopeptide backbone, PNAs offer greater binding affinity and specificity to complementary targets compared to equivalent DNA/DNA or DNA/RNA duplexes, even under low ionic strength conditions. , Prior work has exploited PNA probes as bioreceptors in the electrochemical detection of miRNA based on the use of either bulk gold or gold-nanoparticle-coated working electrodes.…”