Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA) modification refers to the introduction of a methylene bridge between the 2' oxygen and 4' carbon of the ribose sugar in the nucleotide backbone. This modification confers several advantageous properties to oligonucleotides, leading to various applications in molecular biology and biotechnology. Here are some key functions and effects of LNA modification:

1. Increased Thermal Stability: LNA-modified oligonucleotides exhibit significantly enhanced thermal stability compared to unmodified oligos. The locked conformation of the sugar-phosphate backbone prevents the formation of the 3' endo conformer, resulting in stronger base stacking interactions and improved duplex stability. This makes LNA probes and primers highly suitable for applications requiring stringent hybridization conditions, such as PCR, SNP genotyping, and in situ hybridization.
2. Enhanced Specificity: The increased thermal stability of LNA-modified oligonucleotides leads to enhanced specificity in target binding. LNA probes and primers demonstrate reduced propensity for non-specific hybridization and off-target binding, resulting in improved discrimination between closely related sequences. This is particularly beneficial for applications requiring high specificity, such as mutation detection and SNP analysis.
3. Improved Sensitivity: LNA modification enhances the sensitivity of oligonucleotide-based detection assays. The improved stability and specificity of LNA probes enable the detection of low-abundance targets with high sensitivity and accuracy. LNA probes are widely used in fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), real-time PCR, and other nucleic acid detection techniques to achieve sensitive and reliable detection of nucleic acid targets.
4. Increased Nuclease Resistance: LNA modification confers increased resistance to nuclease degradation, prolonging the half-life of LNA-modified oligonucleotides in biological fluids and cellular environments. This enhanced stability enhances the efficacy of LNA oligos in applications such as RNA interference (RNAi), antisense therapy, and gene silencing, where oligonucleotides need to resist enzymatic degradation for prolonged activity.
5. Facilitated SNP Discrimination: LNA probes are highly effective for single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping due to their enhanced specificity and discrimination capabilities. The increased stability and binding affinity of LNA probes enable accurate discrimination between single nucleotide differences, making them valuable tools for SNP detection and analysis in research and clinical diagnostics.

Overall, LNA modification enhances the stability, specificity, sensitivity, and nuclease resistance of oligonucleotides​, making them versatile tools for a wide range of applications in molecular biology, diagnostics, and therapeutics.

GenCefe provides customized DNA oligo modification/labeling services, including more than 100 modifications such as biotin, digoxigenin, phosphate, thiol, sulfhydryl, amino, special bases, and a variety of fluorescent groups. 100% of the delivered modified probes/primers have passed mass spectrometry detection to ensure accuracy and purity, meeting the needs of scientific research and industrial-grade modified primers/probes.