Theoretical study of the guanine --> 6-thioguanine substitution in duplexes, triplexes, and tetraplexes

J Am Chem Soc. 2004 Nov 10;126(44):14642-50. doi: 10.1021/ja0468628.

Abstract

Molecular dynamics and thermodynamic integration calculations have been carried out on a set of G-rich single-strand, duplex, triplex, and quadruplex DNAs to study the structural and stability changes connected with the guanine --> 6-thioguanine (G --> S) mutation. The presence of 6-thioguanine leads to a shift of the geometry from the B/A intermediate to the pure B-form in duplex DNA. The G --> S mutation does not largely affect the structure of the antiparallel triplex when it is located at the reverse-Hoogsteen position, but leads to a non-negligible local distortion in the structure when it is located at the Watson-Crick position. The G --> S mutation leads to destabilization of all studied structures: the lowest effect has been observed for the G --> S mutation in the reverse-Hoogsteen strand of the triplex, a medium effect has been observed in the Watson-Crick strand of the triplex and duplex, and the highest influence of the G -->S mutation has been found for the quadruplex structures.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • DNA / chemistry*
  • Guanine / chemistry*
  • Models, Molecular
  • Nucleic Acid Conformation
  • Thermodynamics
  • Thioguanine / chemistry*

Substances

  • triplex DNA
  • Guanine
  • DNA
  • Thioguanine