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Divalent Ion-Mediated DNA-DNA Interactions: A Comparative Study of Triplex and Duplex.


ABSTRACT: Ion-mediated interaction between DNAs is essential for DNA condensation, and it is generally believed that monovalent and nonspecifically binding divalent cations cannot induce the aggregation of double-stranded (ds) DNAs. Interestingly, recent experiments found that alkaline earth metal ions such as Mg2+ can induce the aggregation of triple-stranded (ts) DNAs, although there is still a lack of deep understanding of the surprising findings at the microscopic level. In this work, we employed all-atom dynamic simulations to directly calculate the potentials of mean force (PMFs) between tsDNAs, between dsDNAs, and between tsDNA and dsDNA in Mg2+ solutions. Our calculations show that the PMF between tsDNAs is apparently attractive and becomes more strongly attractive at higher [Mg2+], although the PMF between dsDNAs cannot become apparently attractive even at high [Mg2+]. Our analyses show that Mg2+ internally binds into grooves and externally binds to phosphate groups for both tsDNA and dsDNA, whereas the external binding of Mg2+ is much stronger for tsDNA. Such stronger external binding of Mg2+ for tsDNA favors more apparent ion-bridging between helices than for dsDNA. Furthermore, our analyses illustrate that bridging ions, as a special part of external binding ions, are tightly and positively coupled to ion-mediated attraction between DNAs.

SUBMITTER: Zhang ZL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5549645 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Divalent Ion-Mediated DNA-DNA Interactions: A Comparative Study of Triplex and Duplex.

Zhang Zhong-Liang ZL   Wu Yuan-Yan YY   Xi Kun K   Sang Jian-Ping JP   Tan Zhi-Jie ZJ  

Biophysical journal 20170801 3


Ion-mediated interaction between DNAs is essential for DNA condensation, and it is generally believed that monovalent and nonspecifically binding divalent cations cannot induce the aggregation of double-stranded (ds) DNAs. Interestingly, recent experiments found that alkaline earth metal ions such as Mg<sup>2+</sup> can induce the aggregation of triple-stranded (ts) DNAs, although there is still a lack of deep understanding of the surprising findings at the microscopic level. In this work, we em  ...[more]

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