Real-time imaging of sulfhydryl single-stranded DNA aggregation

Fanwei Zeng; Youhong Jiang; Nana He; Tiantian Guo; Tiqing Zhao; Mi Qu; Yue Sun; Shuting Chen; Dan Wang; Yong Luo; Guangwen Chu; Jianfeng Chen; Shi-Gang Sun; Hong-Gang Liao

doi:10.1038/s42004-023-00886-6

Real-time imaging of sulfhydryl single-stranded DNA aggregation

Commun Chem. 2023 May 2;6(1):86. doi: 10.1038/s42004-023-00886-6.

Authors

Fanwei Zeng^#¹, Youhong Jiang^#¹, Nana He¹, Tiantian Guo², Tiqing Zhao¹, Mi Qu¹, Yue Sun¹, Shuting Chen¹, Dan Wang³, Yong Luo³, Guangwen Chu³, Jianfeng Chen³, Shi-Gang Sun¹, Hong-Gang Liao^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
² Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Neurodegenerative Disease and Aging Research, Institute of Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites and Research Center of the Ministry of Education for High Gravity Engineering and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China. hgliao@xmu.edu.cn.
⁵ Innovation Laboratory for Sciences and Technologies of Energy Materials of Fujian Province (IKKEM), Xiamen, China. hgliao@xmu.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

The structure and functionality of biomacromolecules are often regulated by chemical bonds, however, the regulation process and underlying mechanisms have not been well understood. Here, by using in situ liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy (LP-TEM), we explored the function of disulfide bonds during the self-assembly and structural evolution of sulfhydryl single-stranded DNA (SH-ssDNA). Sulfhydryl groups could induce self-assembly of SH-ssDNA into circular DNA containing disulfide bonds (SS-cirDNA). In addition, the disulfide bond interaction triggered the aggregation of two SS-cirDNA macromolecules along with significant structural changes. This visualization strategy provided structure information at nanometer resolution in real time and space, which could benefit future biomacromolecules research.

Grants and funding

3210120393/National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China)