Are there any design constraints to be considered for ZNA®s?

Since Z-units do not interfere with hybridization specificity, all general guidelines for designing primers and probes apply.

Remember that ZNA-units cannot convert poor oligo design into a well performing oligo! ZNA® will improve a given sequence by increasing its affinity to the complementary target sequence mainly due to faster hybridization to the target.

metabion offers ZNA® building blocks of 2 - 5 consecutive ZNA-units spermine units for primers and of 2 – 4 spermine units for probes.

The increase in Tm induced by the introduction of spermine moieties is independent both from the oligonucleotide sequence and from the position of the cationic units (5’ or 3’).

To check your sequence, you can read our FAQ "Are there guidelines that should be taken into account when designing oligonucleotides?".