Synthesis of novel di-Se-containing thymidine and Se-DNAs for structure and function studies

The selenium derivatization of nucleic acids and nucleic acid-protein complexes has provided a powerful tool to solve phase problem in X-ray crystallography. Selenium atoms in the nucleotides can serve as fine scattering centers in crystal diffraction. Towards the synthesis of multiple selenium atom-containing nucleotides, which offers strong phasing power to facilitate crys- tal structure determination, we report here the synthesis of the thymidine analogue containing two Se atoms in one nucleobase. The novel Se-containing nucleoside and oligonucleotide DNAs were synthesized and found with the red-shifted UV spectrum and yellow color. Their unique properties are useful in phase determination, nucleic acid-based detection as well as spectro- scopic studies of nucleic acids and nucleic acid-protein complexes.

Synthesis and optical behaviors of 6-seleno-deoxyguanosine

We have developed a simple method to synthesize 6-seleno-2′-deoxyguanosine(SedG)by selectively replacing the 6-oxygen atom with selenium.This selenium-atom-specific modification(SAM)alters the optical properties of the naturally occurring2′-deoxyguanosine(dG).Unlike the native dG,the UVabsorption ofSedG is significantly influenced by the pH of the aqueous solution.Moreover,SedG is fluorescent at the physiological pH and exhibits pH-dependent fluorescence in aqueous solutions.Furthermore,SedG has noticeable fluorescence in non-aqueous solutions,indicating its sensitivity to environmental changes.This is the first time a fluorescent nucleoside by single-atom alteration has been observed.Fluorescent nucleosides modified by a single atom have great potential as molecular probes with minimal perturbations to investigate nucleoside interactions with proteins,such as membrane-transporter proteins.