title: Effects of single-base bulges on intercalator binding to small RNA and DNA hairpins and a ribosomal RNA fragment.
abstract: The way in which a single-base bulge might affect the structure of an RNA helix has been examined by preparing a series of six RNA hairpins, all with seven base pairs and a four-nucleotide loop. Five of the hairpins have single-base bulges at different positions. The intercalating cleavage reagent (methidiumpropyl)-EDTA-Fe(II) [MPE-Fe(II)] binds preferentially at a CpG sequence in the helix lacking a bulge and in four of the five hairpins with bulges. Hairpins with a bulge one or two bases to the 3' side of the CpG sequence bind ethidium 4-5-fold more strongly than the others. V1 RNase, which is sensitive to RNA backbone conformation in helices, detects a conformational change in all of the helices when ethidium binds; the most dramatic changes, involving the entire hairpin stem, are in one of the two hairpins with enhanced ethidium affinity. Only a slight conformational change is detected in the hairpin lacking a bulge. A bulge adjacent to a CpG sequence in a 100-nucleotide ribosomal RNA fragment enhances MPE-Fe(II) binding by an order of magnitude. These results extend our previous observations of bulges at a single position in an RNA hairpin [White, S. A., & Draper, D.E. (1987) Nucleic Acids Res. 15, 4049] and show that (1) a structural change in an RNA helix may be propagated for several base pairs, (2) bulges tend to increase the number of conformations available to a helix, and (3) the effects observed in small RNA hairpins are relevant to larger RNAs with more extensive structure. A bulge in a DNA hairpin identical in sequence with the RNA hairpins does not enhance MPE-Fe(II) binding affinity, relative to a control DNA hairpin. The effects of bulges on ethidium intercalation are evidently modulated by helix structure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Draper
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000235:genetics*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D007700:Kinetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D010957:Plasmids; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics*; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics*; D013604:T-Phages / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004279:DNA, Viral; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases