Dataset Information

Characterizing the protonation state of cytosine in transient G·C Hoogsteen base pairs in duplex DNA.

ABSTRACT: G·C Hoogsteen base pairs can form transiently in duplex DNA and play important roles in DNA recognition, replication, and repair. G·C Hoogsteen base pairs are thought to be stabilized by protonation of cytosine N3, which affords a second key hydrogen bond, but experimental evidence for this is sparse because the proton cannot be directly visualized by X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Here, we combine NMR and constant pH molecular dynamics simulations to directly investigate the pKa of cytosine N3 in a chemically trapped N1-methyl-G·C Hoogsteen base pair within duplex DNA. Analysis of NMR chemical shift perturbations and NOESY data as a function of pH revealed that cytosine deprotonation is coupled to a syn-to-anti transition in N1-methyl-G, which results in a distorted Watson-Crick geometry at pH >9. A four-state analysis of the pH titration profiles yields a lower bound pKa estimate of 7.2 ± 0.1 for the G·C Hoogsteen base pair, which is in good agreement with the pKa value (7.1 ± 0.1) calculated independently using constant pH MD simulations. Based on these results and pH-dependent NMR relaxation dispersion measurements, we estimate that under physiological pH (pH 7-8), G·C Hoogsteen base pairs in naked DNA have a population of 0.02-0.002%, as compared to 0.4% for A·T Hoogsteen base pairs, and likely exist primarily as protonated species.

SUBMITTER: Nikolova EN

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3713198 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Characterizing the protonation state of cytosine in transient G·C Hoogsteen base pairs in duplex DNA.

Nikolova Evgenia N EN Goh Garrett B GB Brooks Charles L CL Al-Hashimi Hashim M HM

Journal of the American Chemical Society 20130429 18

G·C Hoogsteen base pairs can form transiently in duplex DNA and play important roles in DNA recognition, replication, and repair. G·C Hoogsteen base pairs are thought to be stabilized by protonation of cytosine N3, which affords a second key hydrogen bond, but experimental evidence for this is sparse because the proton cannot be directly visualized by X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Here, we combine NMR and constant pH molecular dynamics simulations to directly ...[more]

PMID: 23506098

Similar Datasets

Project description:The exocyclic 1, N(2)-ethenodeoxyguanosine (1,N(2)-is an element of dG) adduct, arising from the reaction of vinyl halides and other vinyl monomers, including chloroacetaldehyde, and lipid peroxidation products with dG, was examined at pH 5.2 in the oligodeoxynucleotide duplex 5'-d(CGCATXGAATCC)-3'.5'-d(GGATTCCATGCG)-3' (X = 1,N(2)-is an element of dG). Previously, X(anti).C(anti) pairing was established in this duplex, containing the 5'-TXG-3' sequence context, at pH 8.6 [Shanmugam, G., Goodenough, A. K., Kozekov, I. D., Harris, T. M., Guengerich, F. P., Rizzo, C. J., and Stone, M. P. (2007) Chem. Res. Toxicol. 20, 1601- 1611]. At pH 5.2, the 1,N(2)-is an element of dG adduct decreased the thermal stability of the duplex by approximately 13 degrees C. The 1,N(2)-is an element of dG adduct rotated about the glycosyl bond from the anti to the syn conformation. This resulted in the observation of a strong nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) between the imidazole proton of 1,N(2)-is an element of dG and the anomeric proton of the attached deoxyribose, accompanied by an NOE to the minor groove A(20) H2 proton from the complementary strand. The syn conformation of the glycosyl bond at 1,N(2)-is an element of dG placed the exocyclic etheno moiety into the major groove. This resulted in the observation of NOEs between the etheno protons and the major groove protons of the 5'-neighboring thymine. The 1,N(2)-is an element of dG adduct formed a Hoogsteen pair with the complementary cytosine, characterized by downfield shifts of the amino protons of the cytosine complementary to the exocyclic adduct. The pattern of chemical shift perturbations indicated that the lesion introduced a localized structural perturbation involving the modified base pair and its 3'- and 5'-neighbor base pairs. A second conformational equilibrium was observed, in which both the modified base pair and its 3'-neighboring G.C base pair formed tandem Hoogsteen pairs. The results support the conclusion that at neutral pH, in the 5'-TXG-3' sequence, the 1,N(2)-is an element of dG adduct exists as a blend of conformations in duplex DNA. These involve the interconversion of the glycosyl torsion angle between the anti and the syn conformations, occurring at an intermediate rate on the NMR time scale.

Dataset Information

Characterizing the protonation state of cytosine in transient G·C Hoogsteen base pairs in duplex DNA.

Publications

Characterizing the protonation state of cytosine in transient G·C Hoogsteen base pairs in duplex DNA.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets