DNAzymes – How Active DNA Molecules with Therapeutic Potential Work
Published:30 Dec.2021 Source:Heinrich-Heine University Duesseldorf
DNAzymes are precision biocatalysts that destroy unwanted RNA molecules. However, major obstacles to their use in medicine remain. Together with Jülich Research Centre (FZJ) and the University of Bonn, a research team from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) has investigated with atomic resolution how DNAzymes work in real time. They have now presented these important fundamental findings and their application in the journal Nature.
DNAzymes -- a word made up of DNA and enzyme -- are catalytically active DNA sequences. They comprise a catalytic core comprising around 15 nucleic acids flanked by short binding arms on the right- and left-hand sides, each with around ten nucleic acids. While the sequence of the core is fixed, the binding arms can be modified specifically match virtually any RNA target sequence.