1',5'-ANHYDROHEXITOL OLIGONUCLEOTIDES - HYBRIDIZATION AND STRAND DISPLACEMENT WITH OLIGORIBONUCLEOTIDES, INTERACTION WITH RNASE-H AND HIV REVERSE-TRANSCRIPTASE

Hexitol nucleic acids (HNAs) with four natural bases form stable and s equence-selective duplexes with RNA. This was investigated by T-m dete rminations and gel shift experiments. The CD spectra of an HNA-RNA dup lex show similarities with the CD spectra of the A-form of dsRNA. Sing le-stranded HNAs are able to induce strand displacement in a double-st randed RNA sequence. An HNA-RNA duplex is a poor substrate for RNase H , and can inhibit the RNase H-mediated cleavage of a natural DNA-RNA s ubstrate. The HNA-RNA hybrid enhances the activity of HIV reverse tran scriptase.