What is the benefit/advantage of having a thiol group attached to an oligonucleotide?
I saw that it increases binding affinity to gold surface....
is it only applicable for nanomaterial surface? or does it increase binding affinity towards protein as well?
Thiol oligonucleotide can for a very dense layer of oligo on gold surface, due to thiol binding to gold.
Thiol oligonucleotide also can conjugate to molecules(esp biomolecules, such as peptide/protein) with thiol group under oxidation condition (form -S-S- bond), it also can label molecule/surface that have Br/I-acetyl (BrCH2CO-) group, and malemide group, ets.
Thiol groups are used for post-synthetic modification like binding to proteins through disulfide exchange or Michaelis addition (e.g. to maleimide). Also thiols are easier to alkylate with bromo-alyphatic derivatives but this approach is less selective and used less frequently.
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