Issue 35, 2022

Three's a crowd – stabilisation, structure, and applications of DNA triplexes

Abstract

DNA is a strikingly flexible molecule and can form a variety of secondary structures, including the triple helix, which is the subject of this review. The DNA triplex may be formed naturally, during homologous recombination, or can be formed by the introduction of a synthetic triplex forming oligonucleotide (TFO) to a DNA duplex. As the TFO will bind to the duplex with sequence specificity, there is significant interest in developing TFOs with potential therapeutic applications, including using TFOs as a delivery mechanism for compounds able to modify or damage DNA. However, to combine triplexes with functionalised compounds, a full understanding of triplex structure and chemical modification strategies, which may increase triplex stability or in vivo degradation, is essential – these areas will be discussed in this review. Ruthenium polypyridyl complexes, which are able to photooxidise DNA and act as luminescent DNA probes, may serve as a suitable photophysical payload for a TFO system and the developments in this area in the context of DNA triplexes will also be reviewed.

Graphical abstract: Three's a crowd – stabilisation, structure, and applications of DNA triplexes

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
28 Mar 2022
Accepted
02 Aug 2022
First published
24 Aug 2022
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 10193-10215

Three's a crowd – stabilisation, structure, and applications of DNA triplexes

M. Dalla Pozza, A. Abdullrahman, C. J. Cardin, G. Gasser and J. P. Hall, Chem. Sci., 2022, 13, 10193 DOI: 10.1039/D2SC01793H

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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