A novel alkali extractable polysaccharide (designated as PNA-2) was purified from Pleurotus nebrodensis and the effects of purified PNA-2 on the proliferation and apoptosis of human hepatic cancer cells (HepG2) were investigated in this study. The results of a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay indicated that PNA-2 inhibited the proliferation of HepG2 cells...

It is well known that glycoconjugate components of the cell surface and extracellular matrix, play an essential role(s) in many developmental phenomena such as cell differentiation, migration, and cellular interactions. The purpose of this study was to investigate distribution of this macromolecules during differentiation of the notochord and paraxial mesoderm. Formalin fixed paraffin sections ...

We investigated the mechanism and kinetic specificity of binding of peptide nucleic acid clamps (bis-PNAs) to double-stranded DNA (dsDNA). Kinetic specificity is defined as a ratio of initial rates of PNA binding to matched and mismatched targets on dsDNA. Bis-PNAs consist of two homopyrimidine PNA oligomers connected by a flexible linker. While complexing with dsDNA, they are known to form P-l...

Hyperandrogenism is the main characteristic of polycystic ovary syndrome, which affects placental function and fetal growth, leads to reproductive metabolic dysfunction in female offspring. Adiponectin acts on placenta may exert endocrine effects developing fetus. This study aims investigate if maternal and/or adiponectin can prevent prenatal androgenized (PNA) transgenic (APNtg) wild-type dams...

Peptide nucleic acid (PNA) forms sequence-specific (PNA)2/DNA triplexes with one strand of double-stranded DNA by strand invasion. When formed with the template strand of DNA such a (PNA)2/DNA triplex can arrest transcription elongation in vitro and can thus act as an anti-gene agent. One of the major obstacles to applying PNA as an anti-gene agent in vivo is that PNA strand invasion occurs at ...

Peptide nucleic acid (PNA) is a nucleic acid mimic in which the deoxyribose phosphate backbone has been replaced by a pseudo-peptide polymer to which the nucleobases are linked. PNA-oligomers can be synthesized in relatively large amounts, are highly stable in biological environments, and bind complementary DNA and RNA targets with remarkably high affinity and specificity. Thus PNA possesses ma...

The synthesis of a diaminopurine PNA monomer, N-[N6-(benzyloxycarbonyl)-2,6-diaminopurine-9-yl] acetyl-N-(2-t-butyloxycarbonylaminoethyl)glycine, and the incorporation of this monomer into PNA oligomers are described. Substitution of adenine by diaminopurine in PNA oligomers increased the T m of duplexes formed with complementary DNA, RNA or PNA by 2.5-6.5 degrees C per diaminopurine. Furthermo...

Nucleic (DNA) acids having contiguous stretch of G sequence form quadruplex structure, which is very critical to control cell division. Recently the existence of G-quadruplex in RNA is also reported in presence of monovalent metal ion. PNA is a promising DNA analogue which binds strongly to DNA to form PNA:DNA duplex or PNA(2):DNA triplex. PNA also forms quadruplexes such G-quadruplex and i-mot...

Peanut seed lectin (PNA) is widely used to identify tumor-specific antigens on the eukaryotic cell surface. In this work PNA was purified by affinity chromatography, using a column containing glutaraldehyde-treated human erythrocytes, whereas PNA isoforms were purified by hydrophobic interaction chromatography using Phenyl-Sepharose. The affinity-purified PNA and its isoforms consist of four eq...