DNA and RNA have their phosphate backbones attached to the 5' carbon of the deoxyribose or ribose sugar ring, respectively.
[8][9][10] Such experiments demonstrate that the properties of heredity and evolution are not limited to the natural genetic polymers of DNA and RNA.
[13] John Chaput, a professor in the department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, has theorized that issues concerning the prebiotic synthesis of ribose sugars and the non-enzymatic replication of RNA may provide circumstantial evidence of an earlier genetic system more readily produced under primitive earth conditions.
Its ability to undergo Darwinian evolution, coupled with its nuclease resistance, make TNA a promising candidate for the development of diagnostic and therapeutic applications that require high biological stability.
In addition, TNA is a promising candidate for RNA therapeutics that involve gene silencing technology.