Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8603, Japan.
Chembiochem. 2021 Aug 3;22(15):2507-2515. doi: 10.1002/cbic.202100184. Epub 2021 Jun 2.
Xeno nucleic acids (XNAs) are analogues of DNA and RNA that have a non-ribose artificial scaffold. XNAs are possible prebiotic genetic carriers as well as alternative genetic systems in artificial life. In addition, XNA oligomers can be used as biological tools. Acyclic XNAs, which do not have cyclic scaffolds, are attractive due to facile their synthesis and remarkably high nuclease resistance. To maximize the performance of XNAs, a negatively charged backbone is preferable to provide sufficient water solubility; however, acyclic XNAs containing polyanionic backbones suffer from high entropy cost upon duplex formation, because of the high flexibility of the acyclic nature. Herein, we review the relationships between the structure and duplex hybridization properties of various acyclic XNA oligomers with polyanion backbones.
异核酸（XNAs）是一类具有非核糖人工骨架的 DNA 和 RNA 类似物。作为可能的前生物遗传载体和人工生命中的替代遗传系统，XNAs 具有重要的研究意义。此外，XNA 寡聚物还可以作为生物工具使用。由于其合成简便、核酸酶抗性显著提高，无环 XNAs（不含环状支架）具有很大的吸引力。为了最大限度地提高 XNA 的性能，带负电荷的骨架更有利于提供足够的水溶性；然而，含有聚阴离子骨架的无环 XNAs 在形成双链体时会遭受高熵成本的困扰，这是由于无环性质的高灵活性所致。本文综述了具有聚阴离子骨架的各种无环 XNA 寡聚物的结构与双链杂交性质之间的关系。
