Oligothiophene-5-labeled deoxyuridines for the detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms.

We report the synthesis of four oligothiophene-5-labeled deoxyuridines. These modified fluorescent nucleosides have been incorporated into oligodeoxynucleotides designed to be used as probes to discriminate, through changes in fluorescence emission, between hybridization with a perfectly complementary strand and that with a single nucleotide mismatch facing the modified uridines. Upon hybridization, remarkable differences (up to 47%) of the emitted light, depending on the uridine facing base, were observed.