Anomeric 2'-Deoxycytidines and Silver Ions: Hybrid Base Pairs with Greatly Enhanced Stability and Efficient DNA Mismatch Detection with alpha-dC

Abstract

alpha-D-Nucleosides are rare in nature but can develop fascinating properties when incorporated into DNA. This work reports on the first silver-mediated base pair constructed from two anomeric nucleosides: alpha-dC and beta-dC. The hybrid base pair was integrated into the DNA and DNA/RNA double helix. A 12-mer duplex with alpha-dC and beta-dC pair exhibits a higher thermal stability (T-m=43 degrees C) than that incorporating the beta-dC-Ag+ beta-dC homo pair (T-m=34 degrees C). Furthermore, alpha-dC shows excellent mismatch discrimination for DNA single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). All four SNPs were identified on the basis of large T-m value differences measured in the presence of silver ions. High resolution melting was not required.