Peptide Nucleic Acid Pt(II) Conjugates: A Preliminary Study of Antisense Effects in Xenopus laevis

Abstract

The avid hybridization of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) to DNA and RNA, coupled with the analogue's stability toward enzymatic degradation, has led to its investigation as an antigene/antisense agent. PNA targeted toward the 5′-UTR of an mRNA transcript can effect efficient silencing; however, if targeted to an area within the coding region, the PNA can be displaced by the moving ribosome and be an ineffective antisense agent. Platinum-appended and standard PNAs antisense to an area within the open-reading frame of the gene noggin, were injected into Xenopus laevis embryos. Phenotypic responses were observed and the preliminary results are reported herein.

Keywords:

• Antisense
• Xenopus
• cisplatin
• PNA
• open-reading frame

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada (NSERC) for financial support of this work. D. W. D. also acknowledges a Canada Graduate Scholarship (NSERC CGS-D). Colin A. Cooper is thanked for assistance with embryo manipulation.