Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan.
J Am Chem Soc. 2013 Jan 16;135(2):741-50. doi: 10.1021/ja309279w. Epub 2013 Jan 8.
Although distance dependence of Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) is well-studied and FRET has been extensively applied as "molecular ruler", only limited examples of orientation-dependent FRET have been reported. To create a robust FRET system that precisely reflects the orientation between donor and acceptor, donor and acceptor fluorophores were introduced into a DNA via a D-threoninol scaffold. Strong stacking interactions among intercalated dyes and natural base-pairs suppress free movement of the dyes, clamping them in the duplex in a fixed orientation. Pyrene and perylene were used as donor and acceptor, respectively, and both the distance and orientation between these dyes were systematically controlled by varying the number of intervening AT pairs from 1 to 21 (corresponding to two turns of helix). FRET efficiency determined from static fluorescence measurement did not decrease linearly with the number (n) of inserted AT pairs but dropped significantly every 5 base pairs (i.e., n = 8, 13, and 18), corresponding to a half-turn of the B-type helix. This clearly demonstrates that FRET efficiency reflects the orientation between pyrene and perylene. We also measured time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy with a streak camera and successfully observed the time-course of the energy transfer directly. As expected, the FRET efficiencies determined from the lifetime of pyrene emission were in good agreement with static measurements. Theoretical calculation of FRET efficiency assuming that the DNA duplex is a rigid cylinder with B-type geometry coincided with the experimental results. We believe that our method of using d-threoninol will contribute to further development of FRET-based measurement techniques.
虽然Förster 共振能量转移(FRET)的距离依赖性已经得到了很好的研究,并且 FRET 已经被广泛应用作为“分子标尺”,但只有有限的取向依赖 FRET 的例子被报道过。为了创建一个精确反映供体和受体之间的取向的稳健的 FRET 系统,供体和受体荧光团通过 D-苏糖醇支架被引入 DNA 中。嵌入染料之间的强烈堆积相互作用和天然碱基对抑制了染料的自由运动,将它们固定在双螺旋体中。芘和苝分别用作供体和受体,并且通过改变间隔的 AT 对的数量(从 1 到 21,对应于螺旋的两个转弯),可以系统地控制这些染料之间的距离和取向。从静态荧光测量确定的 FRET 效率并没有随着插入的 AT 对的数量(n)线性下降,而是每 5 个碱基对显著下降(即,n = 8、13 和 18),对应于 B 型螺旋的半转。这清楚地表明,FRET 效率反映了芘和苝之间的取向。我们还使用条纹相机进行了时间分辨荧光光谱测量,并成功地直接观察了能量转移的时间过程。正如预期的那样,从芘发射寿命确定的 FRET 效率与静态测量非常吻合。假设 DNA 双螺旋体是具有 B 型几何形状的刚性圆柱体的 FRET 效率的理论计算与实验结果吻合。我们相信,我们使用 D-苏糖醇的方法将有助于进一步发展基于 FRET 的测量技术。