Bioconjugation of Functionalized Oligodeoxynucleotides with Fluorescence Reporters for Nanoparticle Assembly

In the field of nucleic acid nanotechnology and therapeutics, there is an imperative need to improve the oligodeoxynucleotides’ (ODNs) properties by either chemical modification of the oligonucleotides’ structure or to covalently link them to a reporter or therapeutic moieties that possess biologically relevant properties. The chemical conjugation can thus significantly improve the intrinsic properties not only of ODNs but also reporter/therapeutic molecules. Bioconjugation of nucleic acids to small molecules also serves as a nano-delivery facility to transport various functionalities to specific targets. Herein, we describe a generalized methodology that deploys azide-alkyne cycloaddition, a click reaction to conjugate a cyanine-3 alkyne moiety to an azide-functionalized ODN 12-mer, as well as 3-azido 7-hydroxycoumarin to an alkyne functionalized ODN 12-mer.