Duplex Stability and Nuclease Resistance

2-Amino-dA & 5-Me-dC

The underlying principle of genetic molecular interaction is Watson and Crick base pairing. Consistent efforts have been expended to introduce different modifications to the bases to increase duplex stability in turn making the hybridization stronger. Two such modifications are discussed below that can be easily substituted in almost all primer, oligo, probe and antisense oligonucleotide design. As shown in Figure below, A-T base pairs have two hydrogen bonds whereas G-C base pairs have three hydrogen bonds. The simplest approach to improving primers would be to substitute A sites with 2-amino-A which forms three hydrogen bonds with T on hybridization. 2-Amino-A also destabilizes A-G wobble mismatches, thus increasing specificity.