Atomistic Picture of Opening-Closing Dynamics of DNA Holliday Junction Obtained by Molecular Simulations

J Chem Inf Model. 2023 May 8;63(9):2794-2809. doi: 10.1021/acs.jcim.3c00358. Epub 2023 Apr 26.

Abstract

Holliday junction (HJ) is a noncanonical four-way DNA structure with a prominent role in DNA repair, recombination, and DNA nanotechnology. By rearranging its four arms, HJ can adopt either closed or open state. With enzymes typically recognizing only a single state, acquiring detailed knowledge of the rearrangement process is an important step toward fully understanding the biological function of HJs. Here, we carried out standard all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the spontaneous opening-closing transitions, which revealed complex conformational transitions of HJs with an involvement of previously unconsidered "half-closed" intermediates. Detailed free-energy landscapes of the transitions were obtained by sophisticated enhanced sampling simulations. Because the force field overstabilizes the closed conformation of HJs, we developed a system-specific modification which for the first time allows the observation of spontaneous opening-closing HJ transitions in unbiased MD simulations and opens the possibilities for more accurate HJ computational studies of biological processes and nanomaterials.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • DNA Repair
  • DNA*
  • DNA, Cruciform*
  • Molecular Conformation

Substances

  • DNA, Cruciform
  • DNA