Electric field destabilizes noncovalent protein-DNA complexes.
Noncovalent protein-DNA interactions are involved in many vital biological processes. In cells, these interactions may take place in the environment of an electric field which originates from the plasma and organelle membranes and reaches strengths of 1 MV/cm. Moreover, protein-DNA interactions are often studied in vitro using an electric field as strong as 1 kV/cm, for example by electrophoresis. It is widely accepted that an electric field does not affect such interactions. Here we report on the first proof that an electric field of less than 1 kV/cm can destabilize the protein-DNA complexes through increasing the monomolecular rate constant of complex dissociation.
Musheev
Michael U
MU
Department of Chemistry and Centre for Research on Biomolecular Interactions, York University, Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3, Canada.
Filiptsev
Yuri
Y
Okhonin
Victor
V
Krylov
Sergey N
SN
D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D055550:Protein Stability; D013696:Temperature
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D004247:DNA