Metal-base pairing in DNA

The use of DNA as a molecular wire in nanoscale electronic architectures would greatly benefit from its capability of sequence-specific self-assembly Although single electrons and positive charges have been shown to be transmitted by natural DNA over a distance of several base pans, the high ohmic resistance of unmodified oligonucleotides imposes a serious obstacle Exchanging some or all of the Watson-Crick base pairs in DNA by metal complexes may solve this problem and evolve DNA-like materials with superior conductivity for future nano-electronic applications The so-called metal-base pairs are formed from suitable transition metal ions and ligand-like nucleosides which are introduced into both of the two pairing strands by automated DNA synthesis This review illustrates the basic concepts of metal-base pairing and highlights recent developments in the field (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved.