Artificial DNA base pair developed based on halogen bonds A research team at the University of Cologne has developed an artificial DNA base pair that works according to a new chemical principle. In contrast to natural bases, the novel artificial base pairs u...

🧬🔬 A research team led by @kathlab.bsky.social has developed an artificial DNA base pair that works according to a new chemical principle. In contrast to natural bases, the novel artificial base pairs use halogen bonds that are enzymatically incorporated into DNA.

Read more: ➡️ uni.koeln/AP4XF

Investigating Halogen Bonds as Pairing Force in an Artificial DNA Base Pair The past decades have seen significant expansion of the nucleic acid space with the development of modified artificial base pairs based on natural nucleic acid analogues and even entirely new designed base pairs. This expansion has led to tremendous potential for applications such as site-specific labeling and structural investigations. However, natural nucleic acids rely strongly on hydrogen bonding as the attraction force, which has driven the development of artificial base pairs that adapt this mechanism. To achieve orthogonality with natural bases, unnatural base pairs with alternative attraction forces, such as hydrophobic interactions, have been developed which however can perturb duplex structures. Our work introduces a completely newly designed artificial base pair that leverages halogen bonding (R–Hal···) as a directional hydrogen bonding-like interaction. We report computational studies that led to the development of this novel unnatural base pair and its synthesis. Our results demonstrate the successful acceptance of a bulky iodinated nucleoside triphosphate by KlenTaq DNA polymerase, enabling the selective enzymatic synthesis of a DNA strand containing the dIIPO–doIPP base pair. Our work presents the first demonstration of a novel base pair with halogen bonding potential that is enzymatically incorporated into DNA.

New paper in @jacs.acspublications.org 🎉:
A de novo designed unnatural base pair that exploits halogen bonding as pairing force in DNA for genetic alphabet expansion. 🧬 ⚗️
@unicologne.bsky.social
@chemunicologne.bsky.social
@breugstlab.bsky.social

pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1...

Season’s greetings from @kathlab.bsky.social ! 🎄✨ Grateful for a year of great science 🧪📄, strong teamwork 🤝, and shared moments 🚢🎉 - and excited for what lies ahead 🚀 @chemunicologne.bsky.social @unicologne.bsky.social

Excited to host all members of @mechanism-network.bsky.social for a full week of science 🧬 and networking 🤝 in Cologne! Great kickoff with Fredrik Westerlund introducing the MeChaNiSM MSCA DN🎓 Looking forward to a week full of #nucleicacids ideas 💡
@unicologne.bsky.social @wilhelmssonlab.bsky.social

Honored to share some big news: I’m now tenured as a W3 Professor of Organic Chemistry @UniCologne! Immensely grateful to all the group members who contributed to this journey🙏 — this milestone is ours to share. @ChemUniCologne #OrganicChemistry #Tenure 🍾🎉🧪🧬

Towards a hydrolysis stable artificial base pair with C-glycosides Artificial base-pairs expand the genetic alphabet and allow for site-specific labeling, for example with fluorophores or spin labels, thereby enhancing the capabilities of biomolecular sensing. We…

New from our Pioneering Investigators collection 🎉

'Towards a hydrolysis stable artificial base pair with C-glycosides' by Stephanie Kath-Schorr (@kathlab.bsky.social) and colleagues.

#OpenAccess 🔓

Michal Hocek telling us a (very big) sword will be used if we go over time on our talks...

The #SCNAC2025 nucleic acid chemistry conference starting off in Czech-style by @hoceklab.bsky.social 🧬🗡

pyFuRNAce Alt Text

#SCNAC2025 we are looking forward to hear about your thoughts on our RNA design tool #PyFuRNAce pyfurnace.streamlit.app developed by @monari-luca.bsky.social

Celebrating 75 years of #FCI @chemieverband.bsky.social ! 🎉 Grateful for the funding that supports the research of @kathlab.bsky.social including Julian Strippel and Matea Rabar. @chemunicologne.bsky.social 🧬⚗️

A collage of portrait photos of the contributors to the collection.

We’re pleased to announce our latest Emerging Investigators article collection, highlighting work from outstanding early career researchers selected from the chemical biology community. Discover this exciting work, all #openaccess and free to read, at rsc.li/CBEMI24.

Many thanks to all for this great collaboration pushing further the limits of microlasers - this time for DNA sensing. In particular to former #HCNB postdoc @sorayacaixeiro.bsky.social now at UBath and our friends from @kathlab.bsky.social in organic chemistry @chemunicologne.bsky.social.

DNA Sensing with Whispering Gallery Mode Microlasers Nucleic acid sensing is crucial for advancing diagnostics, therapeutic monitoring, and molecular biology research by enabling the precise identification of DNA and RNA interactions. Here, we present an innovative sensing platform based on DNA-functionalized whispering gallery mode (WGM) microlasers. By correlating spectral shifts in laser emission to changes in the refractive index, we demonstrate real-time detection of DNA hybridization and structural changes. The addition of gold nanoparticles to the DNA strands significantly enhances sensitivity, and exclusively labeling the sensing strand or a hairpin strand eliminates the need for secondary labeling of the target strand. We further show that ionic strength influences DNA compactness, and we introduce a hairpin-based system as a dual-purpose sensor and controlled release mechanism for drug delivery. This versatile WGM-based platform offers promise for sequence-specific nucleic acid sensing, multiplexed detection, and in vivo applications in diagnostics and cellular research.

🧬🔬New paper online: Nucleic acid sensing using DNA-functionalized whispering gallery mode microlasers! Great collaboration with @thegatherlab.bsky.social
@sorayacaixeiro
@schubertlab.bsky.social
@chemunicologne.bsky.social
🧪 #DNASensing #microlasers

pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

The last day of #EFMCISCB25 by @euromedchem.bsky.social is off to a great start with an insightful keynote lecture by Cynthia Burrows. She talked about the use of nanopore sequencing to characterize chemically modified nucleotides in RNA. #chemsky #ChemBio pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Insightful talk by Ronald Micura at #EFMCISCB25 by @euromedchem.bsky.social. He talked about his group's exciting research into covalent binders to structured RNAs. They use alkyl halides and mesylates as tempered electrophiles for this application. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Chaired by Claudia Höbartner, the last day at #EFMCISCB25 starts with the PL by Cynthia Burrows (@uofupress.bsky.social) thrilling the audience with her nanopore studies on chemically modified RNA. @euromedchem.bsky.social

And finally the #EFMCISCB25 is starting, opened by Uwe Grether, co-chair of the event together with Claudia Hobartner.
@euromedchem.bsky.social

Welcome @tide-rtg.bsky.social !

Hello Bluesky! We are the TIDE group, a research training group working on template-designed #organicelectronics at #UniCologne and #UniBonn, funded by @dfgpublic.bsky.social.
Follow us for news about our #research, our graduation program and events!
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#phd #phdsky #sciencesky #chemistry #physics

Welcome to our Department @chemunicologne.bsky.social @unicologne.bsky.social on Bluesky 🎉🎂🍾
Please follow not to miss any updates on our research, job offers and events!

Grateful for this wonderful group of lab members! Happy holidays and Merry Christmas!🧬🎉❄️☃️🎄

JOB ALERT! 2 open PHD positions @kathlab.bsky.social in the framework of the MSCA doctoral network MeChaNiSM! Searching for organic chemists dedicated to nucleic acid chemistry.🧬⚗️🎉
More info: www.kathlab.uni-koeln.de
#organicchemistry #nucleicacids

MeChaNiSM Mechanical Characterization of Nucleic acids using Single Molecule techniques

www.chalmers.se/en/projects/...

Back from an exciting visit to Chalmers University Gothenburg discussing projects with Marcus Wilhelmsson and Fredrik Westerlund. Stay tuned for our PhD position offers in the MSCA doctoral network MeChaNiSM! 🎉🧬
chalmers.se/en/projects/me…
#nucleicacids #chemicalbiology

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