| 1. |
- Holm, Anne I. S., et al.
(author)
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Electronic coupling between cytosine bases in DNA single strands and i-motifs revealed from synchrotron radiation circular dichroism experiments
- 2010
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In: Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics - PCCP. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 1463-9076 .- 1463-9084. ; 12:14, s. 3426-3430
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this work we have recorded synchrotron radiation circular dichroism (SRCD) spectra from 180 nm to 360 nm of cytosine strands [(dC)(n), n = 1, 2,..., 10] in aqueous solution at different pH values to reveal electronic coupling between bases in different ionisation states. The geometry of the strands is determined by the pH value and the strand length and the local organisation of the cytosines will determine the base-to-base interaction that impacts on the CD signal. At low pH where all bases are protonated, there is no signature of electronic coupling between the bases, and the SRCD spectrum is simply n times that of the n = 1 spectrum. At higher pH where all bases are neutral, the spectra for n > 1 differ from the monomer spectrum, which implies electronic coupling between bases. The correlation between the CD signal and n is linear, and the spatial extent of the excited state wavefunction is therefore over just two stacked bases both in the UV and VUV. At intermediate pH, the low-n spectra are different from the high-n spectra, and a transition is seen to occur at n = 6-8. We ascribe this behavior to the formation of i-motif structures between four (dC)(n) strands for high n.
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| 2. |
- Holm, Anne I. S., et al.
(author)
-
Synchrotron Radiation Circular Dichroism of Various G-Guadruplex Structures
- 2010
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In: Biopolymers. - : Wiley. - 0006-3525 .- 1097-0282. ; 93:5, s. 429-433
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Here we report synchrotron radiation circular dichroism spectra of various G-quadruplexes from 179 to 350 nm, and a number of bands in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) are reported for the first time. For a tetramolecular parallel structure, the strongest band in the spectrum is a negative band in the VUV at 182 nm; for a bimolecular antiparallel structure with diagonal loops, a new strong positive band is found at 190 nm; for a bimolecular parallel structure with edgewise loops, a strong positive band at 189 nm is observed; and for a self-folded chair-type structure, the strongest band in the spectrum is a positive band at 187 nm. For the tetramolecular parallel structure, the CD signals at all wavelengths are dominated by contributions from quartets of G bases, and the signal strength is approximately proportional to the number of quartets. Our experiments on well-characterized G-quadruplex structures lead us to question past attributions of CD signals to helix handedness and G quartet polarity. Although differences can be observed in the VUV region for the various quadruplex types, there do not appear to be clear-cut spectral features that can be used to identify specific topological features. It is suggested that this is because a dominant positive band in the VUV seen near 190 nm in all quadruplex structures is due to intrastrand guanine guanine base stacking. However, our spectra can serve as reference spectra for the G-quadruplex structures investigated and, not least, to benchmark theoretical calculations and empirical models.
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