RNAI AGENTS COMPRISING UNIVERSAL NUCLEOBASES

摘要

One aspect of the present invention relates to an oligonucleotide agent comprising at least one universal nucleobase. In certain embodiments, the universal nucleobase is difluorotolyl, nitroindolyl, nitropyrrolyl, or nitroimidazolyl. In a preferred embodiment, the universal nucleobase is difluorotolyl. In certain embodiments, the oligonucleotide is double-stranded. In certain embodiments, the oligonucleotide is single-stranded. Another aspect of the present invention relates to a method of altering the expression level of a target in the presence of target sequence polymorphism. In a preferred embodiment, the oligonucleotide agent alters the expression of different alleles of a gene. In another preferred embodiment, the oligonucleotide agent alters the expression level of two or more genes. In another embodiment, the oligonucleotide agent alters the expression level of a viral gene from different strains of the virus. In another embodiment, the oligonucleotide agent alters the expression level of genes from different species.