title: A computational and experimental study of the bending induced at a double-triple helix junction.
abstract: We have studied the conformation of a 17 base-pair homopyrimidine.homopurine triple helix formed on a fragment of duplex DNA derived from Simian Virus SV40. Gel retardation assays indicate that an 80 base-pair fragment has an altered conformation when the triple helix is formed, which is most likely to result from an induced bend in the DNA. Investigation of the detailed conformation of the double helix-triple helix junctions has been performed by means of molecular modelling. Bending on the 5' and 3' sides of the third strand oligonucleotide are not located at equivalent positions with respect to the junctions, which is explained in terms of base stacking. The junction effects on DNA structure, induced by the requirement for cytosine protonation in the Hoogsteen-bonded strand to form CGC+ base triplets, are also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Biophysique, CNRS UA 481, INSERM U 201, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chomilier
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Collier
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Garestier
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hélène
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lavery
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002236:Carbohydrate Conformation; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009841:Oligonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry; D011687:Purines / Q000737:chemistry; D011743:Pyrimidines / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D009841:Oligonucleotides; D011687:Purines; D011743:Pyrimidines; D004247:DNA