Recently, SONG Guangtao, a Ph.D. student at the Chuangchun Institute of Applied Chemistry (CIAC), and REN Jinsong, a CIAC professor, published an article entitled “Recognition and Regulation of Unique Nucleic Acid Structures by Small Molecules” in Chemical Communications(Chem.Comm., 2010,46,7283-7294).

DNA and RNA are both polymorphic. Depending on the sequences and environmental conditions, they could exist in a variety of secondary structures that play key roles in many biological processes. Recognition of theses structures by small ligands is very important for the development of new drugs and new tools. In their article, SONG and REN focus on recent advances in the field of molecular recognition and regulation of small ligands with several unique nucleic acid structures, and they also highlight some of the potential applications of the above structures in medicinal chemistry and biotechnology. 

The study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (20831003, 90813001, 20833006 and 90913007).  

SONG Guangtao received his BE in Applied Chemistry at Chongqing University. From 2003 to 2009, he was a PhD student at CIAC, and worked on studying the molecular recognition of unique nucleic acid structures by small ligands ad DNA-based nanostructures.

REN Jinsong obtained her BSc degree at Nanjing University in 1990, and PhD from CIAC in 1995. She worked as a postdoc research associate in the Mississippi Medical Chenter and Department of Chemsitry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology afterwards. From 2002 on, she worked at CIAC. Her current research is mainly focused on drug-nucleic acid interactions and DNA-based nano-functional materials.