title: Different superstructural features of the complexes between spermine and the light responsive elements of the two pea genes rbcS-3A and rbcS-3.6. Gel electrophoresis and circular dichroism studies.
abstract: Two light responsive elements (LREs), DNA sequences, 62 base pairs long, relevant to the light control during transcription of the pea genes rbcS-3A and rbcS-3.6, were synthesized and ligated to obtain multimers with defined superstructural features. Their gel electrophoretic mobilities were studied in the presence of the tetracation, spermine, since it was previously suggested, on the basis of theoretical analysis, that spermine can increase DNA bending and thus could be useful in revealing DNA superstructural features. In fact, the difference between the curvatures of the two LREs, derived from gel electrophoresis retardation ratios, increases in the presence of spermine. Circular dichroism spectra of the complexes between spermine and the two LREs, at different neutralization ratios, show that the polyamine is able to induce the formation of asymmetric arrangements of complexes of molecules. The chirality of these complexes appears dramatically different for the two LREs, suggesting that their different superstructural features give rise to different interactions with the polyamine.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Genetica e Biologia Molecolare, Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bordin
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cacchione
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Savino
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tufillaro
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel / Q000379:methods; D007887:Fabaceae / Q000235:genetics*; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000528:radiation effects; D008027:Light; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D012273:Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase / Q000235:genetics*; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013096:Spermine / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D013096:Spermine; D004247:DNA; D012273:Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase