DNA / RNA Analysis

The analysis of nucleic acids, their characterization gets more and more important nowadays. Beside forensic and ancestry matters, medical diagnostic and specialized treatment in therapy are the driving forces. Verifying the structure of synthesized medicine, its sequence is one task to cover.

Medicines utilizing nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA that control genetic information are called "nucleic acid medicines". These nucleic acid medicines allow targeting of molecules such as messenger RNA (mRNA) and micro RNA (miRNA) which cannot be targeted with traditional low-molecular-weight drugs and antibody medicines, and are expected to be innovative  next generation pharmaceuticals for the treatment of genetic disorders which have been difficult to treat so far.

Mass spectrometry has the capacity to analyze oligonucleotides more quickly and accurately than many other techniques. These important factors become critical in a high throughput environment, for example in the case of industrial primer synthesis where tens of thousands of samples may be generated each day. Here, it is vital that the product quality is of a high standard and that the correct sequence has been generated. Limitations arise when the nature of the sample is considered. For example, electrospray experiments may be difficult due to the high salt content of synthesized primers that can suppress the ionization process, produce cationic salt adducts, and promote multiple charge states making spectral interpretation more complicated.
 

Oligonucleotide therapeutics are synthetic oligonucleotides that demonstrate their medical efficacy through binding to target genes or target proteins that may be responsible for a range of diseases. To date, eight types of oligonucleotide therapeutics have been approved, many of which have a length of approximately 20 bases. As an oligonucleotide therapeutic, the 2’-MOE modified oligonucleotide having 20 bases was used.
 

DNA probes labeled with fluorescent dye (below referred to as fluorescent probes) are used extensively to detect and identify specific DNA when conducting life science studies. The mechanism involves the selective binding of the probe to specific DNA, thereby permitting the detection of that DNA. However, due to the wide variety of fluorescent dyes, it is important to know the exact wavelength at which the probe fluoresces to ensure DNA detection. Here, using the three-dimensional spectral measurement feature of the RF-6000 Spectrofluorophotometer, we introduce examples of fluorescence measurement of two types of fluorescent probes.
 

The Shimadzu BioSpec-nano is a low-maintenance micro-volume spectrophotometer designed for the modern life science laboratory. It offers superior detection limits, up to 10 times better compared to the competition, making it the perfect instrument for quantitation of DNA, RNA, Protein analysis, and photometric measurements. The “Drop and Click” design combined with easy sample mounting and automated cleaning offers a rapid 3 second analysis time and a 10 second cycle time between samples.