Probing the role of structural water in a duplex oligodeoxyribonucleotide containing a water-mimicking base analog

Dorina Kosztin, Richard I. Gumport, Klaus Schulten

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Molecular dynamics simulations were performed on models of the dodecamer DNA double-stranded segment, [d(CGCGAATTCGCG)]2, in which each of the adenine residues, individually or jointly, was replaced by the water-mimicking analog 2'-deoxy-7-(hydroxymethyl)-7-deazaadenosine (hm7c7dA). The simulations, when compared with those of the dodecamer itself, show that incorporation of the analog affects neither the overall DNA structure nor its hydrogen-bonding and stacking interactions when it replaces a single individual base. Furthermore, the water molecules near the bases in the singly-substituted oligonucleotides are similarly unaffected. Double substitutions lead to differences in all the aforementioned parameters with respect to the reference sequence. The results suggest that the analog provides a good mimic of specific 'ordered' water molecules observed in contact with DNA itself and at the interface between protein and DNA in specific complexes.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)3550-3556
Number of pages7
JournalNucleic acids research
Volume27
Issue number17
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 1999

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Genetics

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