Development of small molecular probes to target canonical and non-canonical DNA conformations

Abstract

Nucleic acids store genetic information and transferred from one generation to the next, marking them as crucial to almost all the living organisms. On a cellular level, they serve as a ‘guide book’ to cells for the synthesis of proteins, orchestrating the process of cell cycle and reproduction.1 In 1869, Friedrich Miescher first discovered and isolated a mysterious phosphorous-rich material, later called nuclein, from the nuclei of white blood cells; which was subsequently called as nucleic acids. There are two types of nucleic acids namely, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA). All the genetic information that encoded in DNA is transformed through the replication process in which synthesis of DNA takes place. Further, DNA is transcribed to mRNA in cell nucleus and mRNA further translated to proteins in cytoplasm (Figure 1). This entire process is known as central dogma of molecular biology.2 In the year 1953, Francis Crick and James D. Waston, presented a milestone paper proposing the secondary structure of B-form DNA based on the model constructed using known information such as Rosalind Franklin’s X-ray diffraction data.3