title: Crystal structures of B-DNA with incorporated 2'-deoxy-2'-fluoro-arabino-furanosyl thymines: implications of conformational preorganization for duplex stability.
abstract: The fundamental conformational states of right-handed double helical DNA, the A- and B-forms, are associated with distinct puckers of the sugar moieties. The furanose conformation itself is affected by the steric and electronic nature of the ring substituents. For example, a strongly electronegative substituent at the C2' position, such as in the 2'-deoxy-2'-fluoro ribo furanosyl analogue, will drive the conformational equilibrium towards the C3'- endo type (north). Conversely, the 2'-deoxy-2'-fluoro arabino furanosyl modification with opposite stereochemistry at C2' appears to have a preference for a C2'- endo type pucker (south). Incorporation of 2'-fluoroarabinofuranosyl thymines was previously shown to enhance the thermodynamic stability of B-DNA duplexes. We have determined the crystal structures of the B-DNA dodecamer duplexes [d(CGCGAASSCGCG)]2and [d(CGCGAASTCGCG)]2with incorporated 2'-deoxy-2'-fluoroarabinofuranosyl thymines S (south) at 1.55 A resolution. In the crystal structures, all S residues adopt an O4'- endo conformation (east), well compatible with an overall B-form duplex geometry. In addition to the increased rigidity of S nucleosides, a clathrate-like ordered water structure around the 2'-fluorines may account for the observed larger thermodynamic stability of DNA duplexes containing 2'-deoxy-2'-fluoroarabino thymidines.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Biology and Biophysics, ETH-Hönggerberg, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tereshko
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: V E
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Marquez
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Egli
mesh_terms: D001086:Arabinofuranosyluracil / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D014867:Water; D001086:Arabinofuranosyluracil; D004247:DNA; C034935:clevudine