Design of artificial metallonucleases with oxidative mechanism

The rational design of artificial metallonucleases capable of cleaving DNA in a controllable manner is highly desired due to their potential application in biology and medicine. This review will highlight the most recent progress in the area of artificial metallonucleases employing an oxidative mechanism, focusing on the development of methodologies for cleavage detection, understanding of the factors governing the cleavage efficacy and selectivity, and design strategies for the achievement of high cleavage efficacy. The challenging problems in mimicking the reactivity of natural nucleases will also be discussed. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.