PUBLICATION

Sequence specificity of alternating hydroyprolyl/phosphono peptide nucleic acids against zebrafish embryo mRNAs

Authors
Wickstrom, E., Choob, M., Urtishak, K.A., Tian, X., Sternheim, N., Talbot, S., Archdeacon, J., Efimov, V.A., and Farber, S.A.
ID
ZDB-PUB-041122-2
Date
2004
Source
Journal of drug targeting   12(6): 363-372 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Farber, Steven, Sternheim, Nitzan, Urtishak, Karen
Keywords
Development, Dna Mimic, Embryo, Hybridization, Morpholino, Oligonucleotide, Peptide Nucleic Acid
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/drug effects*
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/metabolism
  • Hydroxyproline/chemistry*
  • Molecular Mimicry
  • Oligoribonucleotides, Antisense/chemistry
  • Oligoribonucleotides, Antisense/pharmacology*
  • Organophosphonates/chemistry*
  • Peptide Nucleic Acids/chemistry*
  • RNA, Messenger/antagonists & inhibitors*
  • RNA, Messenger/biosynthesis
  • Zebrafish/embryology*
PubMed
15545086 Full text @ J. Drug Target
Abstract
Morpholino phosphorodiamidate (MO) DNA mimics display excellent water solubility and hybridization properties toward DNA and RNA, and have been utilized in the model vertebrate zebrafish (Danio rerio) for genome-wide, sequence-based, reverse genetic screens during embryonic development. Peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) exhibit excellent mismatch discrimination, nuclease resistance, and protease resistance, but low solubility. Negatively charged DNA mimics composed of alternating residues of trans-4-hydroxy-L-proline peptide nucleic acid monomers and phosphono peptide nucleic acid monomers (HypNA-pPNA) combine all of the positive features of both MOs and PNAs. Thus, we evaluated PNA oligomers and HypNA-pPNA oligomers as an alternative to MOs for oligonucleotide inhibition of gene expression in zebrafish embryos. We observed that HypNA-pPNA 18-mers displayed comparable potency to MO 25-mers as knockdown agents against chordin, notail and uroD, with greater mismatch stringency. Furthermore, we observed that a specific HypNA-pPNA 18-mer elicited the dharma (bozozok)(-/-) phenotype in zebrafish embryos, which MO 25-mers do not. These observations validate HypNA-pPNAs as an alternative to MO oligomers for reverse genetic studies. The stronger hybridization and greater specificity of HypNA-pPNAs enable knockdown of mRNAs unaffected by MO oligomers.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping