N-methylpyrrole (Py)-N-methylimidazole (Im) polyamides are small organic molecules that bind to DNA with sequence specificity and can be used as synthetic DNA-binding ligands. In this study, five hairpin eight-ring Py-Im polyamides 1-5 with different number of Im rings were synthesized, and their binding behaviour was investigated with surface plasmon resonance assay. It was found that associat...

This review analyses the literature concerning non-fluorescent and fluorescent probes for nucleic acid imaging in fixed and living cells from the point of view of their suitability for imaging intracellular native RNA and DNA. Attention is mainly paid to fluorescent probes for fluorescence microscopy imaging. Requirements for the target-binding part and the fluorophore making up the probe are f...

Pyrrole is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound, a five-membered ring with the formula C4H4NH. It is a colourless volatile liquid that darkens readily upon exposure to air. Substituted derivatives are also called pyrroles, e.g., N-methylpyrrole, C4H4NCH3. Porphobilinogen, a trisubstituted pyrrole, is the biosynthetic precursor to many natural products such as heme. A heterocyclic compound i...

Leaf-cutting ants of the genus Atta have highly size-polymorphic workers, and size is related to division of labor. We studied trail-following behavior of different-sized workers in a laboratory colony of Atta vollenweideri. For small and large workers, we measured responsiveness and preference to artificial conspecific and heterospecific pheromone trails made from poison gland extracts of A. v...

Four different footprinting techniques have been used to probe the DNA sequence selectivity of Thia-Net, a bis-cationic analogue of the minor groove binder netropsin in which the N-methylpyrrole moieties are replaced by thiazole groups. In Thia-Net the ring nitrogen atoms are directed into the minor groove where they could accept hydrogen bonds from the exocyclic 2-amino group of guanine. Three...

The designed peptides pyridine-2-carboxamidonetropsin (2-PyN) and 1-methylimidazole-2-carboxamidonetropsin (2-ImN) are crescent-shaped analogs of the natural products netropsin and distamycin A. 2-PyN and 2-ImN bind the 5'-TGTCA-3' sequence as antiparallel side-by-side dimers in the minor groove of DNA. The binding affinities of 2-PyN and 2-ImN to four different 5-bp sites on DNA were determine...

The site of DNA interstrand cross-linking identified by a family of pyrrole-derived bifunctional electrophiles was studied in vitro in synthetic DNA duplexes. This family includes reductively activated mitomycin C (l), oxidatively activated pyrrolizidine alkaloids (e.g. 2), the simple pyrroles 2,3and 3,4-bis-(acetoxymethyl)1-methylpyrrole (3 and 4), and the antitumor substance 2,3-dihydro-5-(3’...