Local mobility of nucleic acids as determined from crystallographic data. I. RNA and B form DNA

Mobility of individual 5-fluorouridine residues in 5-fluorouracil-substituted Escherichia coli valine transfer RNA. A 19F nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation study

19F nuclear magnetic resonance (n.m.r.) relaxation parameters of 5-fluorouracil-substituted Escherichia coli tRNA(Val)1 were measured and used to characterize the internal mobility of individual 5-fluorouridine (FUrd) residues in terms of several models of molecular motion. Measured relaxation parameters include the spin-lattice (T1) relaxation time at 282 MHz, the 19F(1H) NOE at 282 MHz, and the spin-spin (T2) relaxation time, estimated from linewidth data at 338 MHz, 282 MHz and 84 MHz. Dipolar and chemical shift anisotropy contributions to the 19F relaxation parameters were determined from the field-dependence of T2. The results demonstrate a large chemical shift anisotropy contribution to the 19F linewidths at 282 and 338 MHz. Analysis of chemical shift anisotropy relaxation data shows that, relative to overall tumbling of the macromolecule, negligible torsional motion occurs about the glycosidic bond of FUrd residues in 19F-labeled tRNA(Val)1, consistent with the maintenance of base-base hydrogen-bond and/or stacking interactions at all fluorouracil residues in the molecule. The dipolar relaxation data are analyzed by using the "two-state jump" and "diffusion in a cone" formalisms. Motional amplitudes (theta) are interpreted as being due to pseudorotational fluctuations within the ribose ring of the fluorinated nucleoside. These amplitudes range from approximately 30 degrees to 60 degrees, assuming a correlation time (tau i,2) of 1.6 ns. By using available 19F n.m.r. assignment data for the 14 FUrd residues in 5-fluorouracil-substituted tRNA(Val)1, these motional amplitudes can be correlated directly with the environmental domain of the residue. Residues located in tertiary and helical structural domains show markedly less motion (theta approximately equal to 30 to 35 degrees) than residues located in loops (theta approximately equal to 45 to 60 degrees). A correlation between residue mobility and solvent exposure is also demonstrated. The amplitudes of internal motion for specific residues agree quite well with those derived from X-ray diffraction and molecular dynamics data for yeast tRNA(Phe).

Local mobility of nucleic acids as determined from crystallographic data. II. Z-form DNA

Directions and magnitudes of the local mobility of the Z-DNA hexamer duplex CpGpCpGpCpG have been determined by crystallographic refinement of anisotropic displacement parameters using the observed X-ray diffraction data. The cytidine and guanosine residues demonstrate different modes of mobility, implying that a dinucleotide is the smallest repeating unit in terms of flexibility as well as structure. Directions of librational and translational mobility of the cytidine and guanosine residues of Z-DNA are similar to those observed for the same nucleotides in B-DNA. This suggests that the local mobility of DNA is primarily determined by the individual nucleotide type and by the constraints of Watson-Crick base-pairing, rather than by helical form. Differences in the magnitudes of mobility may be responsible for some of the different physical properties of B-DNA and Z-DNA. The B to Z transition is discussed in terms of the observed flexibilities of these two helical forms.

Internal motions in B- and Z-form poly(dG-dC).poly(dG-dC): 1H NMR relaxation studies

Proton NMR relaxation measurements are used to compare the molecular dynamics of 60 base pair duplexes of B- and Z-form poly(dG-dC).poly(dG-dC). The relaxation rates of the exchangeable guanine imino protons (Gim) in H2O and in 90% D2O show that below 20 degrees C spin-lattice relaxation is exclusively from proton-proton magnetic dipolar interactions while proton-nitrogen interactions contribute about 30% to the spin-spin relaxation. The observation that the spin-lattice relaxation is nonexponential and that the initial spin-lattice relaxation rate of the Gim, G-H8 and C-H6 protons depends on the selectivity of the exciting pulse shows that spin-diffusion dominates the spin-lattice relaxation. The relaxation rates of the Gim, C-H5, and C-H6 in B- and Z-form poly(dG-dC).poly(dG-dC) cannot be explained by assuming the DNA behaves as a rigid rod. The data can be fit by assuming large-amplitude out of plane motions (+/- 30-40 degrees, tau = 1-100 ns) and fast, large-amplitude local torsional motions (+/- 25-90 degrees, tau = 0.1-1.5 ns) in addition to collective torsional motions. The results for the B and Z forms show that the rapid internal motions are similar and large in both conformations although backbone motions are slightly slower, or of lower amplitude, in Z DNA. At high temperatures (greater than 60 degrees C), imino proton exchange with solvent dominates the spin-lattice relaxation of B-form poly(dG-dC).poly(dG-dC), but in the Z form no exchange contribution (less than 2 s-1) is observed at temperatures as high as 85 degrees C. Conformational fluctuations that expose the imino protons to the solvent are strikingly different in the B and Z forms. The results obtained here are compared with those previously reported for poly(dA-dT).poly(dA-dT).

Nucleic acid binding drugs. Part XIII. Molecular motion in a drug-nucleic acid model system: thermal motion analysis of a proflavine-dinucleoside crystal structure

The high-resolution crystal structure of the intercalation complex between proflavine and cytidylyl-3',5'-guanosine (CpG) has been studied by thermalmotion analysis. This has provided information on the translational and librational motions of individual groups in the complex. Many of these motions are similar to, though of larger magnitude than in uncomplexed dinucleosides. Pronounced librational effects were observed along the base pairs and in the plane of the drug chromophore.

Transition from B to Z DNA: contribution of internal fluctuations to the configurational entropy difference

The internal motions of the double-stranded DNA oligomer (dCdG)3 (dC, deoxycytidylate; dG, deoxyguanylate) in the B and Z forms have been calculated in the harmonic approximation. A complete vibrational analysis has been made, and the resulting normal mode frequencies have been used to evaluate the vibrational entropy of B and Z DNA. The greater flexibility of the B DNA hexamer leads to an entropic stabilization relative to the stiffer Z DNA hexamer of 22 calories per mole per kelvin at 300 K. The calculated value is of the same order as that (21 to 27 calories per mole per kelvin) obtained from nuclear magnetic resonance measurements on the methylated duplexes (m5dCdG)3 and (dCdGm5dCdGdCdG). This result demonstrates the importance of internal motions, which have been neglected in earlier studies of the transition from B to Z DNA, in the stability of different nucleic acid conformers.

Sequence-dependent bending of DNA and phasing of nucleosomes

Conformational analysis has revealed anisotropic flexibility of the B-DNA double helix: it bends most easily into the grooves, being the most rigid when bent in a perpendicular direction. This result implies that DNA in a nucleosome is curved by means of relatively sharp bends ("mini-kinks") which are directed into the major and minor grooves alternatively and separated by 5-6 base pairs. The "mini-kink" model proved to be in keeping with the x-ray structure of the B-DNA dodecamer resolved later, which exhibits two "annealed kinks", also directed into the grooves. The anisotropy of B DNA is sequence-dependent: the pyrimidine-purine dimers (YR) favor bending into the minor groove, and the purine-pyrimidine dinucleotides (RY), into the minor one. The RR and YY dimers appear to be the most rigid dinucleotides. Thus, a DNA fragment consisting of the interchanging oligopurine and oligopyrimidine blocks 5-6 base pairs long should manifest a spectacular curvature in solution. Similarly, a nucleotide sequence containing the RY and YR dimers separated by a half-pitch of the double helix is the most suitable for wrapping around the nucleosomal core. Analysis of the numerous examples demonstrating the specific alignment of nucleosomes on DNA confirms this concept. So, the sequence-dependent "mechanical" properties of the double helix influence the spatial arrangement of DNA in chromatin.

Probing the three-dimensional structures of DNA and RNA oligonucleotides in solution by nuclear Overhauser enhancement measurements

DNA and RNA oligonucleotides are ideally suited for high-resolution X-ray crystallographic and 1H-NMR studies. The solution structures of such oligonucleotides can potentially be solved using proton-proton nuclear Overhauser enhancement measurements to demonstrate the proximity of protons in space and to determine their separation, thereby enabling a comparison of the structure in the crystalline and solution states to be made. In this review we describe the general strategy for the sequential resonance assignments of oligonucleotide 1H-NMR spectra, the essential prerequisite for further structural work, the approach to obtaining interproton distances from pre-steady state nuclear Overhauser enhancement measurements, and the use of interproton distances in structure determination. This is illustrated by several examples including double- and single-stranded DNA oligonucleotides as well as RNA stem and loop structures.

The reactivity of anti-peptide antibodies is a function of the atomic mobility of sites in a protein

To study the nature of antigenic recognition, antibodies have been prepared against a set of peptide sequences representing both highly mobile and well-ordered regions of myohaemerythrin, based on X-ray crystallographic temperature factors. Anti-peptide antibodies against highly mobile regions react strongly with the native protein; anti-peptide antibodies from well-ordered regions do not. Mobility is a major factor in the recognition of the native protein by anti-peptide antibodies; this may be of general significance in protein-protein interactions.

A base-centred explanation of the B-to-A transition in DNA

In the traditional view, the bistable feature responsible for the switch between the B and A forms of DNA was the sugar-phosphate backbone. Several recent assays of the sequence-dependent structure of DNA are not compatible with that hypothesis. Here we show that certain kinds of base-pair step, mainly those of the pyrimidine-purine variety, can stack in a "bistable" fashion so as to produce one of two overall helix shapes A or B. Further, we suggest that the passive, elastic stiffness of the backbone is responsible for communicating the stacking configuration from bistable steps to their "neutral" neighbours. The role of water molecules, in stabilizing the B form of DNA over the A, may simply be to form hydrogen-bonded bridges with the minor-groove edges of neutral steps in the B configuration.

Internal mobility in a double-stranded B DNA hexamer and undecamer. A time-dependent proton-proton nuclear Overhauser enhancement study

The internal mobility of the deoxyribose H2'-H2" and base C(H5)-C(H6) and T(CH3)-T(H6) vectors has been investigated by means of time-dependent nuclear Overhauser enhancement (NOE) measurements in a B DNA hexamer and undecamer. Cross-relaxation rates between these proton pairs are determined from the initial slopes of the time development of the NOEs, and, as the interproton distances between these proton pairs are fixed, apparent correlation times for the 3 interproton vectors are calculated from the cross-relaxation rate data. It is shown that there is little residue to residue variation in the cross-relaxation rates of the interproton vectors within each oligonucleotide, that the mean apparent correlation times of the C(H5)-C(H6) and T(CH3)-T(H6) vectors are approximately equal and significantly greater than that of the H2'-H2" vectors, and that the data for the H2'-H2" vectors of both oligonucleotides and the C(H5)-C(H6) and T(CH3)-T(H6) vectors of the undecamer cannot be accounted for by isotropic tumbling alone. The data are analysed in terms of a two motion model with isotropic tumbling and a single internal motion. The relaxation time of the internal motion at 23 degrees C is less than or equal to 1 ns for the H2'-H2" vectors of both oligonucleotides and less than or equal to 3 ns for the C(H5)-C(H6) and T(CH3)-T(H6) vectors of the undecamer. In the case of the H2'-H2" vectors, however, the amplitude of the internal motion is found to be too large to be compatible with the known stereochemistry of DNA. This finding can only be explained by invoking additional degrees of internal freedom with a larger number of internal motions of small amplitude of the type deduced from the analysis of crystallographic thermal factors [(1984) J. Mol. Biol. 173, 361-388].