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Unnatural bases for recognition of noncoding nucleic acid interfaces
Author(s) -
Miao Shiqin,
Liang Yufeng,
Rundell Sarah,
Bhunia Debmalya,
Devari Shekar,
Munyaradzi Oliver,
Bong Dennis
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
biopolymers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.556
H-Index - 125
eISSN - 1097-0282
pISSN - 0006-3525
DOI - 10.1002/bip.23399
Subject(s) - nucleic acid , computational biology , rna , genetic code , dna , transcription (linguistics) , chemistry , synthetic biology , coding (social sciences) , computer science , biology , biochemistry , gene , linguistics , philosophy , statistics , mathematics
Abstract The notion of using synthetic heterocycles instead of the native bases to interface with DNA and RNA has been explored for nearly 60 years. Unnatural bases compatible with the DNA/RNA coding interface have the potential to expand the genetic code and co‐opt the machinery of biology to access new macromolecular function; accordingly, this body of research is core to synthetic biology. While much of the literature on artificial bases focuses on code expansion, there is a significant and growing effort on docking synthetic heterocycles to noncoding nucleic acid interfaces; this approach seeks to illuminate major processes of nucleic acids, including regulation of transcription, translation, transport, and transcript lifetimes. These major avenues of research at the coding and noncoding interfaces have in common fundamental principles in molecular recognition. Herein, we provide an overview of foundational literature in biophysics of base recognition and unnatural bases in coding to provide context for the developing area of targeting noncoding nucleic acid interfaces with synthetic bases, with a focus on systems developed through iterative design and biophysical study.