PNA HyBeacons show better mismatch/mutant discrimination than DNA HyBeacons
In a paper published online today in the journal Artificial DNA: PNA and XNA, HyBeacons made from PNA have been shown to exhibit much better mismatch/mutant discrimination than DNA HyBeacons.
Triazole-modified DNA is a template for in vitro transcription
In a paper published online in ChemComm, Afaf El-Sagheer and Tom Brown show that a DNA strand containing a triazole phosphodiester mimic is an efficient template for in vitro transcription. This is the first demonstration of transcription through a heavily modified DNA backbone linkage and it suggests that click-ligated DNA could be useful for the direct synthesis of biologically active RNA and proteins.
Free online nucleic acids book
A free online book on the chemistry and biology of nucleic acids, written by Prof. Tom Brown, is available on the new ATDBio web site: www.atdbio.com/nucleic-acids-book