Nucleotide Functional Groups

However, there are particular sites that can be modified on the bases, sugars, or phosphate groups of nucleic acids to produce derivatives able to couple with a second molecule. The chemical reactions are almost entirely unique to DNA and RNA work, but once mastered, the process of conjugation can be done with the same ease as with protein molecules. 

The following sections discuss the major constituents of oligonucleotides with special emphasis on the chemical sites useful for bioconjugation. 

The pyrimidine base units cytosine, thymine, and uracil contain six-member nitrogenous ring structures with various points of unsaturation. Thymine and uracil are similar, containing the same double bond between carbons 5 and 6 and the same two ketone groups on C-2 and C-4 of the ring, but differ only in the presence of a methyl 

Base name Nucleoside name (base -1- sugar) Nucleotide name (base -1- sugar + phosphate) 

Addition of a nucleophile to the C-6 position of cytosine often results in fascile displacement reactions occurring at the N4 location. With hydroxylamine attack, nucleophilic displacement causes the formation of an N4-hydroxy derivative. A particularly important reaction for bioconjugate chemistry, however, is that of nucleophilic bisulfite addition to the C-6 position. Sulfonation of cytosine can lead to two distinct reaction products. At acid pH wherein the N-3 nitrogen is protonated, bisulfite reaction results in the 6-sulfonate product followed by spontaneous hydrolysis. Raising the pH to alkaline conditions causes effective formation rrf uracil. If bisulfite addition is done in the presence of a nucleophile, such as a primary amine or hydrazide compound, then transamination at the N4 position can take place instead of hydrolysis (Fig. 38). This is an important mechanism for adding spacer arm functionalities and other small molecules to cytosine-containing oligonucleotides (see Chapter 17, Section 2.1). 

Chemical attachment of a detectable component to an oligonucleotide forms the basis for constructing a sensitive hybridization reagent. Unfortunately, the methods developed to crosslink or label other biological molecules such as proteins do not always apply to nucleic acids. The major reactive sites on proteins involve primary amines, sulfhydryls, carboxylates, or phenolates— groups that are relatively easy to derivatize. RNA and DNA contain none of these functionalities. 

They also are relatively unreactive directly with many of the common bioconjugate reagents discussed in Part II. 

Acylation reactions can be done at the nucleophilic sites on pyrimidines using activated forms of carboxylic acids. Acylation of functional groups in nucleotides typically is used for protection during synthesis (Reese, 1973). However, for bioconjugate applications, the reactivity of native groups on pyrimidines is not as great as that obtained using an amine-terminal spacer derivative, such as those described in Chapter 27, Section 2.1. Yields and reaction rates are typically low for direct acylation or alkylation of pyrimidine bases, especially in aqueous environments. 

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The cell must possess the machinery necessary to translate information accurately and efficiently from the nucleotide sequence of an mRNA into the sequence of amino acids of the corresponding specific protein. Clarification of our understanding of this process, which is termed translation, awaited deciphering of the genetic code. It was realized early that mRNA molecules themselves have no affinity for amino acids and, therefore, that the translation of the information in the mRNA nucleotide sequence into the amino acid sequence of a protein requires an intermediate adapter molecule. This adapter molecule must recognize a specific nucleotide sequence on the one hand as well as a specific amino acid on the other. With such an adapter molecule, the cell can direct a specific amino acid into the proper sequential position of a protein during its synthesis as dictated by the nucleotide sequence of the specific mRNA. In fact, the functional groups of the amino acids do not themselves actually come into contact with the mRNA template. 

The unique properties of oligonucleotides create crosslinking options that are far different from any other biological molecule. Nucleic acids are the only major class of macromolecule that can be specifically duplicated in vitro by enzymatic means. The addition of modified nucleoside triphosphates to an existing DNA strand by the action of polymerases or transferases allows addition of spacer arms or detection components at random or discrete sites along the chain. Alternatively, chemical methods that modify nucleotides at selected functional groups can be used to produce spacer arm derivatives or activated intermediates for subsequent coupling to other molecules. 

To modify the unique chemical groups on nucleic acids, novel methods have been developed that allow derivatization through discrete sites on the available bases, sugars, or phosphate groups (see Chapter 1, Section 3 for a discussion of RNA and DNA structure). These chemical methods can be used to add a functional group or a label to an individual nucleotide or to one or more sites in oligonucleotide probes or full-sized DNA or RNA polymers. 

A nucleotide consists of a nitrogenous base linked to a monosaccharide linked to a phosphate functional group. 

The hnal rehned structure showed a 2, 3 -cyclic phosphate product at the Ci7 ribose position and a Cn nucleotide that had moved dramatically and become almost perpendicular to the Watson-Crick faces of conserved nucleotides Gs and Ae in the catalytic pocket. Interactions of functional groups of G5 and Ae with the product and Cn included (1) a hydrogen bond formed between the exocyclic amine (Ne) of Ag and the cyclic phosphate nonbridging oxygen... 

Coenzyme A is another adenine nucleotide derivative, with its primary functional group, a thiol, some distance away from the nucleotide end of the molecule. This thiol plays an important role in biochemistry via its ability to form thioesters with suitable acyl compounds (see Box 7.18). We have seen how thioesters are considerably more reactive than oxygen esters, with particular attention being paid to their improved ability to form enolate anions, coupled with thiolates being excellent leaving groups (see Box 10.8). 

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