Nucleic Acid Chemistry

 

Groupmembers

Dr. habil. Rolf Bald (Group Leader)

Özlem Kumas

 

 

Summary of the project

One of the topics of this laboratory is the preparative organic synthesis of minor or rare or unnatural nucleosides, nucleotides and their derivatives. Modifications of the heterocyclic moiety of the nucleosides are:

pyrimidines and purins with additional substituents,

amino-alkylated purines,

pyrimidines and purins with functional groups in different positions,

pyrimidines and purins with different attachment of the sugar moiety,

pyrimidines and purins with fluorescent properties.

Furthermore, we synthesise nucleotides with other or altered sugar moieties. Modifications within the phosphate diester group of oligonucleotides may be introduced as phosphoro-modified protected nucleoside phosphoramidites or as a part of the synthesis cycle during the stepwise chemical synthesis of the oligomer. In addition, substrate analogues or primers for nucleases or polymerases, respectively, are prepared.

The purpose of these synthetic products is their application in the automated chemical synthesis of ribo-oligonucleotides for structural or functional investigations of RNA and the stabilization of RNA towards nucleolytic enzymes.s

 

Selected Publications

Nolte, A.; Klußmann, S.; Bald, R.; Erdmann, V.A.; Fürste, J.P. Mirror-design of L-oligonucleotide ligands binding to L-arginine. Nature Biotechnology, 14, 1116-1119 (1996)

Klußmann, S.; Nolte, A.; Bald, R.; Erdmann, V.A.; Fürste, J.P. Mirror-image RNA that binds D-adenosine. Nature Biotechnolgy, 14, 1112-1115 (1996)

Perbandt, M.; Nolte, A.; Lorenz, S.; Bald, R.; Betzel, C.; Erdmann, V.A. Crystal structure of domain E of Thermus flavus 5S rRNA: a helical RNA structure including a hairpin loop. FEBS Letters 429, 211-215 (1998)

Henderson, B.S.; Beuning, P.; Shi, J.-P.; Bald, R.; Fürste, J.-P.; Erdmann, V.A.; Musier-Forsyth, K.; Schimmel, P. Subtle Functional Interactions in the RNA Minor Groove at a Nonessential Base Pair. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 120, 9110-9111 (1998)

 

Homepage

Last Update: 29.1.2001