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Showing papers by "Seog K. Kim published in 1993"


Journal ArticleDOI
07 Oct 1993-Nature
TL;DR: It is reported here that PNA containing all four natural nucleobases hybridizes to complementary oligonucleotides obeying the Watson–Crick base-pairing rules, and thus is a true DNA mimic in terms of base- Pair recognition.
Abstract: DNA analogues are currently being intensely investigated owing to their potential as gene-targeted drugs. Furthermore, their properties and interaction with DNA and RNA could provide a better understanding of the structural features of natural DNA that determine its unique chemical, biological and genetic properties. We recently designed a DNA analogue, PNA, in which the backbone is structurally homomorphous with the deoxyribose backbone and consists of N-(2-aminoethyl)glycine units to which the nucleobases are attached. We showed that PNA oligomers containing solely thymine and cytosine can hybridize to complementary oligonucleotides, presumably by forming Watson-Crick-Hoogsteen (PNA)2-DNA triplexes, which are much more stable than the corresponding DNA-DNA duplexes, and bind to double-stranded DNA by strand displacement. We report here that PNA containing all four natural nucleobases hybridizes to complementary oligonucleotides obeying the Watson-Crick base-pairing rules, and thus is a true DNA mimic in terms of base-pair recognition.

2,326 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Methyl green is found to be excluded from binding to the triple helical poly(dA) · 2poly(dT) in which the major groove is filled by the third strand, and appears to be an exception to groove‐binding dyes.

133 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Spectroscopic results indicate a change of DNA conformation, consistent with an allosteric binding model, but they do not explicitly require any cooperativity, but accidental neighbors could also explain the data.
Abstract: The interaction of 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) with several double-helical poly- and oligonucleotides has been studied in solution using optical spectroscopic techniques: flow linear dichroism (LD), induced circular dichroism (CD), and fluorescence spectroscopy. In AT-rich sequences, where DAPI is preferentially bound, LD indicates that the molecule is edgewise inserted into the minor groove at an angle of approximately 45-degrees to the helix axis. This binding geometry is found for very low as well as quite high binding ratios. The concluded geometry is in agreement with that of the DAPI complex in a crystal with the Drew-Dickerson dodecamer, and the DAPI complex with this dodecamer in solution is verified to have an ICD spectrum similar to that of the complex with [poly(dA-dT)]2 at low binding ratios. The observation of two types of CD spectra characteristic for the binding of DAPI to DNA, and also for the interaction with [poly(dA-dT)]2, demonstrates that the first binding mode, despite its low apparent abundance (a few percent), is not due to a specific DNA site. The effect may be explained in terms of an allosteric binding such that when DAPI molecules bind contiguously to the AT sequence the conformation of the latter is changed. The new conformation, which according to LD appears to be stiffer than normal B-form DNA, is responsible for the second type of induced CD spectrum in the DAPI chromophore. Although the spectroscopic results indicate a change of DNA conformation, consistent with an allosteric binding model, they do not explicitly require any cooperativity, but accidental neighbors could also explain the data.

131 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Circular dichroism spectra support the conclusion that a triplex is formed as the only PNA-DNA complex and that it is a right-handed helix.
Abstract: The binding of an eightmer of peptide nucleic acid, H-T8-Lys-NH2 (=PNA-T8), to a polynucleotide, poly(dA), was studied by flow linear dichroism (LD) and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. Whereas the single stranded DNA, due to its high flexibility, does not display any measurable LD signal when subjected to shear flow, the complex with PNA does. A titration shows that saturation occurs at a stoichiometry of two PNA thymine bases per DNA adenine base, indicating the formation of a triplex PNA2-DNA complex. The persistence length of the adduct remains small up to relatively high stoichiometries (above 1:1 T:A) indicating that no significant amounts of PNA:DNA duplex are formed. Instead triplex stretches seem to form surrounded by flexible parts of single stranded poly(dA). Upon approaching the stoichiometry 2:1 of T:A the LD increases dramatically demonstrating that the stiffness of the PNA-DNA triplex arises from base-base contacts preventing bending of the chain. It is also inferred that the main stiffness of duplex DNA very probably has a similar origin and is not primarily a result of the increased phosphate-phosphate repulsion. Circular dichroism spectra support the conclusion that a triplex is formed as the only PNA-DNA complex and that it is a right-handed helix. The wavelength dependence of the reduced linear dichroism shows that the inclination of the bases from perpendicularity relative to the helix axis is small. The base conformation of the poly(dA)[PNA-T8]2 triplex is very similar to that of the conventional poly(dA)[poly(dT)]2 triplex.

113 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, DAPI was found to bind to poly[d(G-C)2] with its molecular long-axis roughly perpendicular but with its plane more parallel to the belix axis of the polynucleotide, probably being bound in a non-intercalated way in the major groove.
Abstract: The interactions of DAPI with poly[d(G-C)2] and poly[d(G-m5C)2] are characterized by optical spectroscopic methods. DAPI is found to bind to poly[d(G-C)2] with its molecular long-axis roughly perpendicular but with its plane more parallel to the belix axis of the polynucleotide, probably being bound in a non-intercalated way in the major groove of the polynucleotide. In poly[d(G-m5C)2], DAPI is bound with its molecular plane perpendicular to the helix axis, probably partially intercalated from the major groove. The conclusions are supported by fluorescence quenching results. Together with the earlier established minor groove binding mode of DAPI in the AT regions, our results demonstrate a heterogeneous nature of the interaction of a small ligand with DNA. We conclude that the conventional classification of a ligand as being either intercalator, minor groove binder, or major groove binder may not be adequate since the mode of binding clearly depends also on the base sequence.

62 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The strong quenching of the fluorescence of BPT by dG, dC and dT accounts for the low fluorescence yields of B PT‐native DNA and of pyrene‐DNA complexes, and possible fluorescence quenched mechanisms involving photoinduced electron transfer are discussed.
Abstract: The hydrophobic interactions of bulky polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with nucleic acid bases and the formation of noncovalent complexes with DNA are important in the expressions of the mutagenic and carcinogenic potentials of this class of compounds. The fluorescence of the polycyclic aromatic residues can be employed as a probe of these interactions. In this work, the interactions of the (+)-trans stereoisomer of the tetraol 7,8,9,10-tetrahydroxytetrahydrobenzo[a]pyrene (BPT), a hydrolysis product of a highly mutagenic and carcinogenic diol epoxide derivative of benzo[a]pyrene, were studied with 2'-deoxynucleosides in aqueous solution by fluorescence and UV spectroscopic techniques. Ground-state complexes between BPT and the purine derivatives 2'-deoxyguanosine (dG), 2'-deoxyadenosine (dA), and 2'-deoxyinosine (dI) are formed with association constants in the range of approximately 40-130 M(-1). Complex formation with the pyrimidine derivatives 2'-deoxythymidine (dT), 2'-deoxycytidine (dC), and 2'-deoxyuridine (dU) is significantly weaker. Whereas dG is a strong quencher of the fluorescence of BPT by both static and dynamic mechanisms (dynamic quenching rate constant k(DYN) = [2.5 +/- 0.4] x 10(9) M(-1)s(-1), which is close to the estimated diffusion-controlled value of approximately 5 x 10(9) M(-1)s(-1), both dA and dI are weak quenchers and form fluorescence-emitting complexes with BPT. The pyrimidine derivatives dC, dU, and dT are efficient dynamic fluorescence quenchers (k(DYN) approximately [1.5-3.0] x 10(9) M (-1)s(-1), with a small static quenching component due to complex formation evident only in the case of dT. None of the four nucleosides dG, dA, dC and dT are dynamic quenchers of BPT in the triplet excited state; the observed lower yields of triplets are attributed to the quenching of single excited states of BPT by 2'-deoxynucleosides without passing through the triplet manifold of BPT. Possible fluorescence quenching mechanisms involving photoinduced electron transfer are discussed. The strong quenching of the fluorescence of BPT by dG, dC and dT accounts for the low fluorescence yields of BPT-native DNA and of pyrene-DNA complexes.

37 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Kim et al. as discussed by the authors showed that the major groove binding geometry of DAPI when complexed with [poly(dG-dC)]2 is a result of a decreased affinity to the minor groove of poly(dA-dT)]2 due to steric hindrance and decreased electronegative attraction caused by the amino group of guanine.
Abstract: Complexes of 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) with [poly(dG-dC)]2 and [poly(dI-dC)]2 were studied by optical spectroscopic techniques including linear dichroism (LD), circular dichroism (CD), and fluorescence measurements. The aim was to investigate the importance of the exocyclic amino group of guanine that protrudes into the minor groove of [poly(dG-dC)]2 but is absent in [poly(dI-dC)]2. When bound to [poly(dG-dC)]2, DAPI exhibits a negative, and strongly wavelength-dependent, reduced linear dichroism (LDr) in the DAPI absorption region, a weak positive CD, and a fluorescence behavior that is similar to that of free DAPI with accessibility to quenching by the aqueous solvent. These spectroscopic properties have been interpreted in terms of a major-groove binding geometry by Kim et al. (Kim, S. K.; Eriksson, S.; Kubista, M.; Norden, B. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1993,115,3441-3447). By contrast, when bound to [poly(dI-dC)]2, DAPI exhibits a strong positive CD in the 300-420-nm region, a positive (wavelength-independent) LD(r), a strong increase of the fluorescence intensity, and shielding to added quencher. These spectroscopic properties closely resemble those of the DAPI-[poly(dA-dT)]2 complex, in which DAPI is situated deep in the minor groove of the polynucleotide. We conclude that the major groove binding geometry of DAPI when complexed with [poly(dG-dC)]2 is a result of a decreased affinity to the minor groove of [poly(dG-dC)]2 due to steric hindrance and decreased electronegative attraction caused by the amino group of guanine.

29 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results indicate that the destacking of DNA bases is an important limiting step in the association of RecA to DNA (DNA is stretched in the ATP gamma S-RecA-DNA complex), and suggests that the binding mechanism of Rec a to DNA may involve intercalation of one or more amino acid residues of Rec A between the DNA bases.

23 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the pyrenyl chromophores of the BPDE adducts, linked by the C10 atom to the exocyclic nitrogen of guanine, interact in the photoexcited state, as evidenced by excimer fluorescence.
Abstract: Covalent adducts of the carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (+)-anti-benzo[a]pyrene 7,8-dihydrodiol 9,10-epoxide ((+)-anti-BPDE) in polynucleotides have been studied by fluorescence spectroscopy. The pyrenyl chromophores of the BPDE adducts, linked by the C10 atom to the exocyclic nitrogen of guanine, interact in the photoexcited state, as evidenced by excimer fluorescence. Strong BPDE excimer fluorescence is observed in the alternating poly(dGdC).poly(dGdC) sequence, whereas it is weak in the homopolymeric poly(dG).poly(dC) and in calf thymus DNA. No excimer fluorescence is observed for the BPDE adducts in poly(dAdC).poly(dGdT) or poly(dAdG).poly(dCdT). It is concluded that the formation of BPDE excimers in polynucleotides requires binding to guanines on different strands on consecutive basepairs. The experimental results are supported by graphics modeling and energy minimization of BPDE adducts in various oligonucleotide sequences. The results show that the most favorable arrangement for excimer formation of the BPDE-dG adducts is in a 5'(dCdG-BPDE).5'(dCdG-BPDE) sequence, where the pyrenyl chromophores interact in the minor groove.

15 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The binding of RecA to DNA modified with the latter enantiomer is found to give rise to a reorganization of this BPDE adduct from an intercalation site into a minor groove site, a discovery that could explain the approximately 50% contour length increase of the DNA within its fibrous complex with RecA.
Abstract: The association kinetics of RecA protein from Escherichia coli to DNA is strongly enhanced if even a minor fraction of DNA bases has been modified by a carcinogenic (+)-anti metabolite of benzo[a]pyrene (BPDE). The enhancement is much smaller with the less carcinogenic (-)-anti enantiomer of BPDE suggesting the possibility that the RecA protein binds selectively to the proto-oncogenic target. Most importantly, the binding of RecA to DNA modified with the latter enantiomer is found to give rise to a reorganization of this BPDE adduct from an intercalation site into a minor groove site. This indicates that the binding mechanism of RecA is via intercalation of some amino acid moiety, a discovery that could explain the approximately 50% contour length increase of the DNA within its fibrous complex with RecA.

14 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The spectroscopic behaviour of DAPI indicates that the Z conformation of DNA does not provide normal binding sites for DAPI, such as groove or intercalation sites, but that the initial association may be of external nature.
Abstract: The Z form of poly [d(G-m5C)2], in presence of Mg2+ ion, is found to be transformed into B form upon interaction with 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI). The Z --> B transformation is complete at a mixing ratio of about 0.07 DAPI per DNA base pairs, i.e., each DAPI molecule may be related to the conversion of 6-7 base pairs. An interaction between DAPI and poly [d(G-m5C)2] in its Z form at low drug: DNA ratios is suggested from optical dichroism and time-resolved luminescence anisotropy results. The spectroscopic behaviour of DAPI indicates that the Z conformation of DNA does not provide normal binding sites for DAPI, such as groove or intercalation sites, but that the initial association may be of external nature. (C) 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.