Oligonucleotide



Oligonucleotides are short sequences of fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), and the synthesis of artificial genes.

Oligonucleotides composed of DNA (deoxyoligonucleotides) are often used in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a procedure that can be employed to amplify almost any piece of DNA. In this instance, the oligonucleotide is often referred to as a primer, or a short piece of DNA that binds to its complementary target sequence. This generates a place for a nucleotides to make a copy of the target sequence.

Oligonucleotides are sometimes referred to as oligos.

Antisense oligonucleotides

Antisense oligonucleotides are single strands of DNA or RNA that are complementary to a chosen sequence. In the case of antisense RNA they prevent translation of complementary RNA strands by binding to it. Antisense DNA can be used to target a specific, complementary (coding or RNase H.

DNA MicroArray

One subtype of DNA MicroArrays can be described as substrates (nylon, glass etc.) to which oligonucleotides have been bound at high density. Currently there exist three applications of DNA MicroArrays: polymorphism studies, gene expression studies, and tracking down certain diseases.

Synthesis

Oligonucleotides are chemically synthesized using nucleotides, called HPLC can be used to isolate products with the proper sequence.

See also

  • Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. There are 20 natural amino acids.
  • Antigen is a substance that, after take-up by an organism, elicits an immune response.
  • Antibody is a protein produced by the immune system in order to protect the body against a foreign substance (antigen).
  • Aptamer Oligonucleotides with important biological applications
  • Chromosome Components in a cell that contain genetic information. Each chromosome contains numerous genes. Chromosomes occur in pairs: one obtained from the mother; the other from the father. Chromosomes of different pairs are often visibly different from each other (see also DNA).
  • DNA The material inside the nucleus of cells that carries genetic information. The scientific name for DNA is deoxyribonucleic acid.
  • Epitope is the smallest part of an antigen that can be recognised by an antibody.
  • Gene The fundamental physical and functional unit of hereditary.
  • Morpholino oligos have non-natural backbones, which do not activate RNase-H but can knockdown gene expression or modify splicing.
  • Polymorphism The appearance in a population of the same gene in multiple forms because of mutations.
  • Polynucleotide
  • Recombinant DNA is DNA formed by the artificial combination of several existing DNA strands.

References

  • Pierce, "GENETICS: A Conceptual Approach", 2005



Nucleobases: Cytosine)
Nucleosides: Thymidine | Cytidine/Deoxycytidine
Nucleotides: monophosphates (cADPR)
Deoxynucleotides: monophosphates (dAMP, dGDP, TDP, dCDP) | triphosphates (dATP, dGTP, TTP, dCTP)
Ribonucleic acids: snoRNA
Deoxyribonucleic acids: mtDNA
Nucleic acid analogues: morpholino
Cloning vectors: phagemid | plasmid | lambda phage | cosmid | P1 phage | fosmid | BAC | YAC | HAC
 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Oligonucleotide". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.