title: Improving nuclease activity of copper(II)-terpyridine complex through solubilizing and charge effects of glycine.
abstract: Copper complexes are potential metallonucleases that may find application in biotechnology and molecular biology. In this study, a ternary copper-terpyridine complex [Cu(ttpy)(Gly)(NO3)](NO3)·H2O (1) (ttpy=4'-p-tolyl-2,2':6,2″-terpyridine) is synthesized and characterized by X-ray crystallography and ESI-MS as an artificial nuclease. Glycine (Gly) is introduced into the complex to enhance the water-solubility and electrostatic affinity for the nucleic acid target. The interaction between complex 1 and DNA has been studied by spectroscopy and gel electrophoresis, using a structural analog [Cu(ttpy)(NO3)2] (2) as the reference. Complex 1 demonstrates an increased DNA binding ability and oxidative cleavage activity towards supercoiled pBR322 DNA as compared with complex 2. The enhanced water-solubility and positive charge of complex 1 may facilitate its access to DNA and formation of hydrogen bonds with the sugar-phosphate backbone. The results indicate that carefully positioned auxiliary groups in a copper complex can significantly affect the substrate binding or activation ability and consequently the nuclease efficiency of the complex.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, PR China.
authors: Wen
authors: W
authors: Zhou
authors: Xiaoyong
authors: X
authors: Wang
authors: Ming
authors: M
authors: Hu
authors: Zijian
authors: Z
authors: Guo
mesh_terms: D040761:Biomimetic Materials / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D002413:Cations, Divalent; D056831:Coordination Complexes / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D003300:Copper / Q000737:chemistry*; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D053837:DNA Cleavage; D004278:DNA, Superhelical / Q000737:chemistry*; D003851:Deoxyribonucleases / Q000737:chemistry; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D005998:Glycine / Q000737:chemistry*; D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D010957:Plasmids / Q000737:chemistry*; D011725:Pyridines / Q000737:chemistry*; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000737:chemistry; D012996:Solutions; D055672:Static Electricity; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D002413:Cations, Divalent; D056831:Coordination Complexes; D004278:DNA, Superhelical; D011725:Pyridines; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D012996:Solutions; D014867:Water; D003300:Copper; D003851:Deoxyribonucleases; D005998:Glycine