Branch capture reactions: effect of recipient structure

Synthesizing Configurable Biochemical Implementation of Linear Systems from Their Transfer Function Specifications

The ability to engineer synthetic systems in the biochemical context is constantly being improved and has a profound societal impact. Linear system design is one of the most pervasive methods applied in control tasks, and its biochemical realization has been proposed by Oishi and Klavins and advanced further in recent years. However, several technical issues remain unsolved. Specifically, the design process is not fully automated from specification at the transfer function level, systems once designed often lack dynamic adaptivity to environmental changes, matching rate constants of reactions is not always possible, and implementation may be approximative and greatly deviate from the specifications. Building upon the work of Oishi and Klavins, this paper overcomes these issues by introducing a design flow that transforms a transfer-function specification of a linear system into a set of chemical reactions, whose input-output response precisely conforms to the specification. This system is implementable using the DNA strand displacement technique. The underlying configurability is embedded into primitive components and template modules, and thus the entire system is adaptive. Simulation of DNA strand displacement implementation confirmed the feasibility and superiority of the proposed synthesis flow.

Dynamic DNA nanotechnology using strand-displacement reactions

The specificity and predictability of Watson-Crick base pairing make DNA a powerful and versatile material for engineering at the nanoscale. This has enabled the construction of a diverse and rapidly growing set of DNA nanostructures and nanodevices through the programmed hybridization of complementary strands. Although it had initially focused on the self-assembly of static structures, DNA nanotechnology is now also becoming increasingly attractive for engineering systems with interesting dynamic properties. Various devices, including circuits, catalytic amplifiers, autonomous molecular motors and reconfigurable nanostructures, have recently been rationally designed to use DNA strand-displacement reactions, in which two strands with partial or full complementarity hybridize, displacing in the process one or more pre-hybridized strands. This mechanism allows for the kinetic control of reaction pathways. Here, we review DNA strand-displacement-based devices, and look at how this relatively simple mechanism can lead to a surprising diversity of dynamic behaviour.

DNA as a universal substrate for chemical kinetics

Molecular programming aims to systematically engineer molecular and chemical systems of autonomous function and ever-increasing complexity. A key goal is to develop embedded control circuitry within a chemical system to direct molecular events. Here we show that systems of DNA molecules can be constructed that closely approximate the dynamic behavior of arbitrary systems of coupled chemical reactions. By using strand displacement reactions as a primitive, we construct reaction cascades with effectively unimolecular and bimolecular kinetics. Our construction allows individual reactions to be coupled in arbitrary ways such that reactants can participate in multiple reactions simultaneously, reproducing the desired dynamical properties. Thus arbitrary systems of chemical equations can be compiled into real chemical systems. We illustrate our method on the Lotka-Volterra oscillator, a limit-cycle oscillator, a chaotic system, and systems implementing feedback digital logic and algorithmic behavior.

Optical absorption assay for strand-exchange reactions in unlabeled nucleic acids

The nucleic acid exchange reaction is a common feature for genetic recombination, DNA replication and transcription. Due to the fact that in the strand-exchange reactions the reactant and product molecules have similar or identical nucleotide sequences, the reaction is undetectable. As a rule, the nucleic acids with radioactive or fluorescence labels are used in such studies. Besides the fact that the labels can perturb the reaction and pose a health risk to the investigators, the assays usually involve extra experimental steps: quenching the reaction, separation, visualization and quantification of the products. Here, we describe a straightforward, direct and precise method to study strand-exchange reaction of unlabeled nucleic acids by real-time measurements of optical absorption. The method takes advantage of the property of some guanine-rich oligonucleotides to adopt monomolecular quadruplex conformation in the presence of certain cations. The conformation is characterized by significant absorption in long-wavelength range of the ultraviolet region where usually other secondary structures are transparent. The 'signal' oligonucleotide is incorporated into reactant duplex by annealing with target sequence. Adding the replacement sequence initiates the release of the 'signal' oligonucleotide into solution, which is accompanied by ultraviolet absorption in long-wavelength range.

The ruv proteins of Thermotoga maritima: branch migration and resolution of Holliday junctions

In homologous recombination in bacteria, the RuvAB Holliday junction-specific helicase catalyzes Holliday junction branch migration, and the RuvC Holliday junction resolvase catalyzes formation of spliced or patched structures. RuvAB and RuvC from the hyperthermophile Thermotoga maritima were expressed in Escherichia coli and purified to homogeneity. An inverted repeat sequence with unique termini was produced by PCR, restriction endonuclease cleavage, and head-to-tail ligation. A second inverted repeat sequence was derived by amplification of a second template containing a three-nucleotide insertion. Reassociation products from a mixture of these two sequences were homoduplex linear molecules and heteroduplex heat-stable Holliday junctions, which acted as substrates for both T. maritima RuvAB and RuvC. The T. maritima RuvAB helicase catalyzed energy-dependent Holliday junction branch migration at 70 degrees C, leading to heteroduplex linear duplex molecules with two three-nucleotide loops. Either ATP or ATP gamma S hydrolysis served as the energy source. T. maritima RuvC resolved Holliday junctions at 70 degrees C. Remarkably, the cleavage site was identical to the preferred cleavage site for E. coli RuvC [(A/T)TT(downward arrow)(G/C)]. The conservation of function and the ease of purification of wild-type and mutant thermophilic proteins argues for the use of T. maritima proteins for additional biochemical and structural studies.

The kinetics of oligonucleotide replacements

The formation of a duplex between two nucleic acid strands is restricted if one of the strands forms an intra- or intermolecular secondary structure. The formation of the new duplex requires the dissociation and replacement of the initial structure. To understand the mechanism of this type of kinetics we studied the replacement of a labeled DNA oligonucleotide probe bound to a complementary DNA target with an unlabeled probe of the same sequence. The replacement kinetics were measured using a gel-shift assay for 12, 14 and 16-nucleotide probes as a function of temperature and concentration of the unlabeled probe. The results demonstrate that the overall replacement rate is a combination of two kinetic pathways: dissociative and sequential displacement. The dissociative pathway occurs by the spontaneous dissociation of the initial duplex followed by association of the target and unlabeled probe. The sequential displacement pathway requires only the partial melting of the initial duplex to allow for the formation of a branched nucleation complex with the unlabeled probe, followed by the complete displacement of the labeled probe by migration of the branch point. The contribution from the dissociative pathway is predominant at temperatures close to the melting point of the labeled probe, whereas the contribution from the displacement pathway prevails at lower temperatures and when the concentration of the replacing unlabeled probe is high. The results show that at physiological conditions, duplex formation between a single-stranded oligonucleotide probe and a structured region of a target molecule occurs mainly by the sequential-displacement mechanism.

Targeting in linear DNA duplexes with two complementary probe strands for hybrid stability

A new in vitro hybridization reaction targets two short complementary RecA protein-coated DNA probes to homologous sequences at any position in a linear duplex DNA molecule. Stable hybrids are obtained after RecA protein removal when both complementary probe strands are present in a four-stranded hybrid, but not when one probe strand is present in a three-stranded hybrid. In four-stranded hybrids with one probe strand biotinylated and the other radiolabelled, the deproteinized hybrids can be isolated and detected by affinity capture on streptavidin-coated magnetic beads. RecA-mediated targeting of complementary biotinylated DNA probe strands allows the affinity capture of 48.5-kilobase duplex lambda genomic DNA. These reactions provide a means of isolating any desired duplex gene or chromosomal DNA fragment.

Branch capture reactions: displacers derived from asymmetric PCR

Branch capture reactions (BCR) contain three DNA species: (i) a recipient restriction fragment terminating in an overhang, (ii) a displacer strand containing two adjacent sequences, with one complementary to the overhang and to contiguous nucleotides within the recipient duplex and (iii) a linker which is complementary to the second displacer sequence. Branched complexes containing all three species may be captured by ligation of the linker to the recipient overhang. The use of 5-MedC in the displacer facilitates BCR. High temperature ligation with a thermostable enzyme increased specificity for ligation to the correct recipient in a complex mixture of restriction fragments. Displacer synthesis by PCR permitted separate reactions of formation of stable displacement complexes and of high-temperature ligation. Ethylene glycol-containing buffer permitted PCR with 5-MedCTP or high G + C products using thermostable polymerases. BCR may be used to modify the ends of one recipient DNA duplex in a population of duplex DNA fragments. Modification of the recipient could be used to facilitate detection, affinity chromatography or cloning. By using PCR to obtain a BCR displacer, the sequence non-homologous to the recipient duplex may be expanded to include the sequence of a selectable marker, thus facilitating chromosome walking.

DNA probes: applications of the principles of nucleic acid hybridization

Nucleic acid hybridization with a labeled probe is the only practical way to detect a complementary target sequence in a complex nucleic acid mixture. The first section of this article covers quantitative aspects of nucleic acid hybridization thermodynamics and kinetics. The probes considered are oligonucleotides or polynucleotides, DNA or RNA, single- or double-stranded, and natural or modified, either in the nucleotide bases or in the backbone. The hybridization products are duplexes or triplexes formed with targets in solution or on solid supports. Additional topics include hybridization acceleration and reactions involving branch migration. The second section deals with synthesis or biosynthesis and detection of labeled probes, with a discussion of their sensitivity and specificity limits. Direct labeling is illustrated with radioactive probes. The discussion of indirect labels begins with biotinylated probes as prototypes. Reporter groups considered include radioactive, fluorescent, and chemiluminescent nucleotides, as well as enzymes with colorimetric, fluorescent, and luminescent substrates.