title: Nucleic acid ion structures in the gas phase.
abstract: Nucleic acids are diverse polymeric macromolecules that are essential for all life forms. These biomolecules possess a functional three-dimensional structure under aqueous physiological conditions. Mass spectrometry-based approaches have on the other hand opened the possibility to gain structural information on nucleic acids from gas-phase measurements. To correlate gas-phase structural probing results with solution structures, it is therefore important to grasp the extent to which nucleic acid structures are preserved, or altered, when transferred from the solution to a fully anhydrous environment. We will review here experimental and theoretical approaches available to characterize the structure of nucleic acids in the gas phase (with a focus on oligonucleotides and higher-order structures), and will summarize the structural features of nucleic acids that can be preserved in the gas phase on the experiment time scale.
authors.affiliation: CNRS, UMS 3033, IECB, F-33600 Pessac, France.
authors.forename: Josephine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Abi-Ghanem
authors.forename: Valérie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gabelica
mesh_terms: D005740:Gases / Q000737:chemistry*; D007477:Ions / Q000737:chemistry; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009696:Nucleic Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D011789:Quantum Theory
chemical_list: D005740:Gases; D007477:Ions; D009696:Nucleic Acids