The structural plasticity of nucleic acid duplexes revealed by WAXS and MD

Copyright © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC)..

Double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) and RNA (dsRNA) helices display an unusual structural diversity. Some structural variations are linked to sequence and may serve as signaling units for protein-binding partners. Therefore, elucidating the mechanisms and factors that modulate these variations is of fundamental importance. While the structural diversity of dsDNA has been extensively studied, similar studies have not been performed for dsRNA. Because of the increasing awareness of RNA's diverse biological roles, such studies are timely and increasingly important. We integrate solution x-ray scattering at wide angles (WAXS) with all-atom molecular dynamics simulations to explore the conformational ensemble of duplex topologies for different sequences and salt conditions. These tightly coordinated studies identify robust correlations between features in the WAXS profiles and duplex geometry and enable atomic-level insights into the structural diversity of DNA and RNA duplexes. Notably, dsRNA displays a marked sensitivity to the valence and identity of its associated cations.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2021

Erschienen:

2021

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:7

Enthalten in:

Science advances - 7(2021), 17 vom: 15. Apr.

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

He, Weiwei [VerfasserIn]
Chen, Yen-Lin [VerfasserIn]
Pollack, Lois [VerfasserIn]
Kirmizialtin, Serdal [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Journal Article
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Anmerkungen:

Date Revised 15.04.2022

published: Electronic-Print

Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE

doi:

10.1126/sciadv.abf6106

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM324467168