Oligonucleotides are short sequences of nucleotides (RNA or DNA), typically with twenty or fewer base pairs. Oligonucleotides are often used as probes for detecting complementary DNA or RNA because they bind readily to their complements. Examples of procedures that use oligonucleotides are DNA microarrays, Southern blots, and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH).
Oligonucleotides composed of DNA (deoxyoligonucleotides) are often used in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a procedure that can be employed to amplify almost any piece of DNA. In this instance, the oligonucleotide is often referred to as a primer, or a short piece of DNA that binds to its complementary target sequence. This generates a place for a polymerase to bind and extend the primer by the addition of nucleotides to make a copy of the target sequence.
Oligonucleotides are often referred to as oligos, in "science slang".
Publications
Oligonucleotides, published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., is a peer-reviewed journal on natural or synthetic nucleic acid-based compounds such as oligonucleotides, RNA, ribozymes, RNAi, and aptamers and their biologic effects and applications both in vitro and in vivo. The clinical development of these agents, including toxicologic and pharmacologic issues are covered, as well as technology improvements and new applications of nucleic acids as tools or drugs, not only in the oligonucleotide field, but also in areas such as immune modulation or target validation.
See also
Antisense Oligonucleotides are strands of RNA that prevent translation of complementary RNA strands by binding to it. Antisense Oligonucleotides are being created to use on RNA that eventually produces telomerase, which is active in cancer cells.
Source: PIERCE, "GENETICS: A Conceptual Approach" 2005 See also
Amino acids: Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. There are 20 natural amino acids.
Antigen: A substance which, after take-up by an organism, elicits an immune response.
Antibody: An antibody is a protein produced by the immune system in order to protect the body against a foreign substance (antigen).
Chromosome: Thousands of genes are located on specialised structures called chromosomes. Every human cell contains 23 pairs of chromosomes.
DNA: The molecule that carries the genetic information. DNA is usually found as a double-stranded molecule, where each strand consists of nucleotides in a specific order. By identifying patterns of sequences of nucleotides, individual genes can be found as well as their locations on specific chromosomes. DNA is an extremely complex labyrinth: together, the 46 human chromosomes present in every cell contain about four billion genes.
DNA MicroArray: DNA MicroArrays can be described as substrates (nylon, glass etc.) to which oligonucleotides have been bound at high density. Currently there exist three applications of DNA MicroArrays: polymorphism studies, gene expression studies, and tracking down certain diseases.
Protein: A molecule consisting of linked amino acids, for which the information is stored in genes. Proteins are indispensable to the structure, function, defense, and regulation of cells, tissues, and organs. Each protein has a specific function, which may play an essential role in health.
Epitope: The smallest part of an antigen that can be recognised by an antibody.
Fermentor: In molecular biology, a fermentor is a hermetically sealed container for growing cells containing recombinant DNA,
Gene: The smallest unit of an organism that is still able to contain and transfer genetic information. The genes, located on the chromosomes, contain the information for the production of proteins. The DNA of an organism may contain from a few times ten (in a virus, for instance) to many tens of thousands of genes in more complex organisms.
Gene sequencing: A laboratory technique for identifying nucleotide sequences in a DNA fragment. Sequence comparisons may help researchers find mutations responsible for a disease.
Gene mapping: The method used to determine the relative positions of genes on chromosomes.
Gene expression: The process by which the information stored in a gene is translated into a protein.
Genomics: The study of both the structure of the genome and of the information contained in the chromosomes of an organism. This comprises gene mapping, gene sequencing, and the study of gene function.
Genome: The genome is the totality of all the genes on all the chromosomes of an organism (about 100,000 per human cell).
Hybridoma: A cell formed by the fusion of an antibody-producing cell with a tumour cell. A hybridoma inherits the specificity of the antibody-producing cell and the immortality of the tumor cell.
Monoclonal antibody: A monoclonal antibody is an antibody produced by a single population of cells (hybridoma); it recognises and binds a single part (epitope) of an antigen.
Mutation: A genetic change, transferable or not, depending on the cell or group of cells containing the mutation.
Nucleotide: The four chemical building blocks of DNA [A(denine), C(ytosine), G(uanine), T(hymine)] are called nucleotides. Millions of nucleotides together form a DNA chain.
Oligonucleotide: A short stretch of nucleotides, 2 to 200 nucloetides long.
Peptide: A molecule consisting of two or more amino acids. Longer peptides are usually called polypeptides or proteins.
Polymorphism: The appearance in a population of the same gene in multiple forms because of mutations.
Recombinant DNA: DNA formed by the artificial combination of several exisiting DNA strands.
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