What Is Peptide Nucleic Acid?
Peptide nucleic acid, abbreviated as PNA, is an artificial polymer that bears many similarities to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA). It is used by scientists and physicians in medical treatments and biological research. Peptide nucleic acid combines two advantages that make it useful for these applications. First, it has the ability to store information, just like DNA, but has an even more robust backbone than DNA does. This second property gives it a great deal of chemical stability. Peptide nucleic acid has never been known to occur naturally, but some speculate that it may have been present during the earlier history of Earth. The research that has been done involving peptide nucleic acid has led to some hypotheses that these molecules may have been part of the earliest forms of life on Earth. PNA might have been used as their version of DNA because of its chemical strength and its simpler structure. Intriguingly, it is also possible for PNA to form and polymer
Peptide nucleic acid, abbreviated as PNA, is an artificial polymer that bears many similarities to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA). It is used by scientists and physicians in medical treatments and biological research. Peptide nucleic acid combines two advantages that make it useful for these applications. First, it has the ability to store information, just like DNA, but has an even more robust backbone than DNA does. This second property gives it a great deal of chemical stability. Peptide nucleic acid has never been known to occur naturally, but some speculate that it may have been present during the earlier history of Earth. The research that has been done involving peptide nucleic acid has led to some hypotheses that these molecules may have been part of the earliest forms of life on Earth. PNA might have been used as their version of DNA because of its chemical strength and its simpler structure. Intriguingly, it is also possible for PNA to form and polymer
