DNA-RNA chimera indicates the flexibility of the backbone influences the encapsulation of fluorescent AgNC emitters.
by Pratik Shah, Peter W. Thulstrup, Seok Keun Cho, Morten Jannik Bjerrum and Seong Wook Yang
Scientist from the UNIK Center for Synthetic Biology and Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen collaborated on this project resulting in this paper in Chemical Communications by the Royal Society for Chemistry: https://www.rsc.org/suppdata/cc/c4/c4cc06439a/c4cc06439a1.pdf
A schematic cartoon shows the suggested hypothesis of emissive AgNCs formation in a flexible RNA strand. Non self-complementary RNA is competent to form a transient pocket if it contains random A and U bases. The flexibility of RNA backbone appears to be important to induce the transient structure. The transient structure may increase the probability of cytosine to cytosine encountering and subsequent C-Ag+-C formation. Although only one base pairs of A=U and C≡G were exemplified in the cartoon, we speculate that serial cytosine bases may be required to generate strong fluorescence.