Laboratory of BioInorganic Chemistry

chemistry department

Molecular recognition of DNA by porphyrin derivatives.

• Key words:
  water-soluble porphyrins, intercalation, molecular recognition, DNA scission.
  
  
• Objectives:
  Obtain molecules able to inhibit the viral gene expression or ontogenesis, with the synthesis of ligands able to interact with DNA by various ways:
  - Specifically bind on gene fragments implied in the replication or the transcription of DNA of virus or tumor cells,
  - Induce the DNA scission to the site of fixing.
  
  
• Ligands:
  Hybrid molecules made up which contain an intercalating entity
  of cationic porphyrin, and a hydroxamic acid reasonable to induce hydrolytic cuts of the DNA in the presence of lanthanides.
  
  
• Strategy:
  - Design by molecular modeling the molecule ready to recognize the targeted sequence.
  - Synthesize the molecule.
  - Determine the mode of interaction ligand-oligonucleotide target by
  physicochemical and biochemical methods.
  - Study the specificity of recognition ligand-oligonucleotide target.
  - Study the nuclease activity of the ligands.
  - Evaluate their biological activities (cytotoxicity, antiviral activity, antitumor activity) (collaboration).
  - Immobilize on electrodes of cation metalloporphyrins in order to electrochemically study their interactions with the oligonucleotides and to use them like biosensors of DNA (collaboration).