Remarkable stabilization of antiparallel DNA triplexes by strong stacking effects of consecutively modified nucleobases containing thiocarbonyl groups.

The consecutive arrangement of 2'-deoxy-6-thioguanosines (s(6)Gs) and 4-thiothymidines (s(4)Ts) in antiparallel triplex-forming oligonucleotides (TFOs) considerably stabilized the resulting antiparallel triplexes with high base recognition ability by the strong stacking effects of thiocarbonyl groups. This result was remarkable because chemical modifications of the sugar moieties and nucleobases of antiparallel TFOs generally destabilize triplex structures. Moreover, in comparison with unmodified TFOs, it was found that TFOs containing s(6)Gs and s(4)Ts could selectively bind to the complementary DNA duplex but not to mismatched DNA duplexes or single-stranded RNA.