Molecular basis of Arginine and Lysine DNA sequence-dependent thermo-stability modulation.

Autor: Benjamin Martin, Pablo D Dans, Milosz Wieczór, Nuria Villegas, Isabelle Brun-Heath, Federica Battistini, Montserrat Terrazas, Modesto Orozco
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: PLoS Computational Biology, Vol 18, Iss 1, p e1009749 (2022)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1553-734X
1553-7358
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009749
Popis: We have used a variety of theoretical and experimental techniques to study the role of four basic amino acids-Arginine, Lysine, Ornithine and L-2,4-Diaminobutyric acid-on the structure, flexibility and sequence-dependent stability of DNA. We found that the presence of organic ions stabilizes the duplexes and significantly reduces the difference in stability between AT- and GC-rich duplexes with respect to the control conditions. This suggests that these amino acids, ingredients of the primordial soup during abiogenesis, could have helped to equalize the stability of AT- and GC-rich DNA oligomers, facilitating a general non-catalysed self-replication of DNA. Experiments and simulations demonstrate that organic ions have an effect that goes beyond the general electrostatic screening, involving specific interactions along the grooves of the double helix. We conclude that organic ions, largely ignored in the DNA world, should be reconsidered as crucial structural elements far from mimics of small inorganic cations.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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