Sigma-Aldrich has entered into a worldwide licensing agreement with Polyplus-transfection to manufacture and commercialize Zip Nucleic Acid (ZNA)oligonucleotides, a new technology that provides solutions for increased affinity for nucleic acids.
Under the terms of the license, Sigma-Aldrich has rights to manufacture and commercialize ZNA oligonucleotides for all research applications. ZNA are oligonucleotides with attached cationic units. They offer significant value for a variety of applications in research and diagnostics applications. Research applications include PCR probes, PCR primers,invitro micro RNA detection and inhibition and siRNA.
The addition of cationic residues to oligonucleotides increases their sensitivity and their ability to detect mutations, while remaining both easy to design and cost effective. ZNA also offers an increased affinity for nucleic acids without losing selectivity, improving performance in hybridization techniques.
Theresa Creasey, VP of sigma custom products at Sigma-Aldrich, said: “Sigma-Aldrich offers the largest portfolio of modifications and labels for ligonucleotides. We consider ZNA an important addition to our portfolio. The increased performances seen for ZNA oligonucleotides offers advantages for our customers, and we look forward to making this technology available to our global customer base.”