title: Methylation stabilizes the imino tautomer of dAMP and amino tautomer of dCMP in solution.
abstract: Alkylating agents cause methylation of adenosine and cytidine in DNA to generate 1-methyladenosine and 3-methylcytidine. These modified nucleosides can serve as regulators of cells or can act as agents of mutagenesis depending on the context and the partner enzymes. Solution structures and the chemical interactions with enzymes that lead to their recognition are of inherent interest. At physiological pH, 1-methyladenosine and 3-methylcytidine are presumed to be in the protonated amino forms in the literature. We report the structures, ionization states, and UV resonance Raman spectra of both substrates over a range of pH (2.5-11.0). The Raman excitation wavelength was tuned to selectively enhance Raman scattering from the nucleobase (260 nm) and further specifically from the imino form (210 nm) of 1-me-dAMP. We find that contrary to the general assumption, 1-me-dAMP is present in its neutral imino form at physiological pH and 3-me-dCMP is in the amino form.
authors.affiliation: National Centre for Biological Sciences, TIFR, GKVK Campus, Bellary Road, Bangalore 560065, India.
authors.forename: Namrata
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jayanth
authors.forename: Mrinalini
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Puranik
mesh_terms: D000241:Adenosine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry; D000249:Adenosine Monophosphate / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry; D003562:Cytidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry; D019175:DNA Methylation; D003838:Deoxyadenine Nucleotides / Q000737:chemistry; D003843:Deoxycytidine Monophosphate / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D012996:Solutions / Q000737:chemistry; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: C561000:1-methyl-deoxyadenosine-5'-monophosphate; C560999:3-methyldeoxycytidine monophosphate; D003838:Deoxyadenine Nucleotides; D012996:Solutions; D014867:Water; D003843:Deoxycytidine Monophosphate; C002230:1-methyladenosine; C043208:3-methylcytidine; D000249:Adenosine Monophosphate; D003562:Cytidine; C012873:2'-deoxy-5'-adenosine monophosphate; D000241:Adenosine