Role of 2'-OH on thermodynamic stability and structure of chimeric oligonucleotides.

Abstract

Thermodynamic parameters of RNA/DNA chimeric duplexes were obtained systematically. Stability of the duplexes including chimeric junctions was context dependent, although CD spectra showed less structural perturbation by the junctions. Nearest-neighbor delta G degree 37 values for these chimeric RNA-DNA junctions suggested that 2'-OH on the 5'-side nucleotide at the junction may be the determinant for the nearest-neighbor stability of the chimeric junction.