Sequence-selective targeting of duplex DNA by peptide nucleic acids.

Sequence-selective gene targeting constitutes an attractive drug-discovery approach for genetic therapy, with the aim of reducing or enhancing the activity of specific genes at the transcriptional level, or as part of a methodology for targeted gene repair. The pseudopeptide DNA mimic peptide nucleic acid (PNA) can recognize duplex DNA with high sequence specificity and affinity in triplex, duplex and double-duplex invasive modes or non-invasive triplex modes. Novel PNA modification has improved the affinity for DNA recognition via duplex invasion, double-duplex invasion and triplex recognition considerably. Such modifications have also resulted in new approaches to targeted gene repair and sequence-selective double-strand cleavage of genomic DNA.