1',5'-anhydrohexitol oligonucleotides: Hybridisation and strand displacement with oligoribonucleotides, interaction with RNase H and HIV reverse transcriptase

Abstract

Hexitol nucleic acids (HNAs) with four natural bases form stable and sequence-selective duplexes with RNA. This was investigated by T-m determinations and gel shift experiments. The CD spectra of an HNA-RNA duplex show similarities with the CD spectra of the A-form of dsRNA. Single-stranded HNAs are able to induce strand displacement in a double-stranded RNA sequence. An HNA-RNA duplex is a poor substrate for RNase H, and can inhibit the RNase H-mediated cleavage of a natural DNA-RNA substrate. The HNA-RNA hybrid enhances the activity of HIV reverse transcriptase.