Disulfide bridge as a linker in nucleic acids' bioconjugation. Part I: An overview of synthetic strategies.

This 2-part article reviews methods of oligonucleotides functionalization with thiol tethers and their consecutive use in conjugation with other (macro)molecules via a disulfide bridge. This relatively inexpensive, robust and reversible method of conjugation of DNAs, RNAs and their analogs holds a prominent position in a modern biochemistry toolbox and therefore there is a wealth of literature on the subject. In part I methods of thiol/disulfide groups introduction into oligonucleotide strands have been systematized and discussed. A digest of conjugation methods is presented as well.