Tuning PNA Properties by Chemical Modifications: Design Synthesis and Applications

The present Ph.D. Thesis concerns the development of modified chiral Peptide Nucleic Acids (PNAs) aimed at improving the affinity and the selectivity towards complementary DNA sequences for biomedical and food applications. In particular, PNA Molecular Beacons have been studied for HPLC analysis. PNAs based on arginine have been developed. Two types of microarrays, one with PNAs covalently linked to a silica surface, the other obtained by microcontact printing have been shown to be promising tools for selective DNA recognition. Finally PNAs embedding a pseudopeptide Nuclear Localization Sequence have been synthesized and tested in cell cultures, providing good evidence of internalization inside the nucleus.