Stelling Allison L, Xu Yu, Zhou Huiqing, Choi Seung H, Clay Mary C, Merriman Dawn K, Al-Hashimi Hashim M
Department of Biochemistry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA.
Department of Chemistry, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
FEBS Lett. 2017 Jun;591(12):1770-1784. doi: 10.1002/1873-3468.12681. Epub 2017 Jun 19.
Noncanonical G-C and A-T Hoogsteen base pairs can form in duplex DNA and play roles in recognition, damage repair, and replication. Identifying Hoogsteen base pairs in DNA duplexes remains challenging due to difficulties in resolving syn versus antipurine bases with X-ray crystallography; and size limitations and line broadening can make them difficult to characterize by NMR spectroscopy. Here, we show how infrared (IR) spectroscopy can identify G-C and A-T Hoogsteen base pairs in duplex DNA across a range of different structural contexts. The utility of IR-based detection of Hoogsteen base pairs is demonstrated by characterizing the first example of adjacent A-T and G-C Hoogsteen base pairs in a DNA duplex where severe broadening complicates detection with NMR.
非经典的G-C和A-T Hoogsteen碱基对可在双链DNA中形成,并在识别、损伤修复和复制中发挥作用。由于通过X射线晶体学解析顺式与反式嘌呤碱基存在困难,鉴定DNA双链体中的Hoogsteen碱基对仍然具有挑战性;并且尺寸限制和谱线展宽会使它们难以通过核磁共振光谱进行表征。在这里,我们展示了红外(IR)光谱如何能够在一系列不同的结构背景下识别双链DNA中的G-C和A-T Hoogsteen碱基对。通过表征DNA双链体中相邻的A-T和G-C Hoogsteen碱基对的首个实例,证明了基于红外检测Hoogsteen碱基对的实用性,在该实例中,严重的谱线展宽使核磁共振检测变得复杂。