RESISTANCE TO DEGRADATION BY NUCLEASES OF (2'S)-2'-DEOXY-2'-C-METHYLOLIGONUCLEOTIDES, NOVEL POTENTIAL ANTISENSE PROBES

An oligonucleotide must fulfill two main requirements to become a pote ntial antisense probe: effective hybridization properties with the com plementary sequence and stability toward nucleases. In this article th e degradation pattern of a new class of potential antisense fragment, (2'S)-2'-deoxy-2'-C-methyloligonucleotides, is analyzed. The results d escribed here show that the modification introduced in these oligonucl eotides confers an enhanced stability toward purified nucleases, human sera, and HeLa cell extracts.