Environmental influences on DNA curvature

David Ussery, C.F. Higgins, A. Bolshoy

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    DNA curvature plays an important role in many biological processes. To study environmentalinfluences on DNA curvature we compared the anomalous migration on polyacrylamide gels ofligation ladders of 11 specifically-designed oligonucleotides. At low temperatures (25 degreesC and below) most of the sequences exhibited a degree of anomalous migration. Increasedtemperature had a significant effect on the anomalous migration (curvature) of some sequencesbut limited effects on others; at 50 degrees C only 1 sequence migrated anomalously. Mg2+ hada strong influence on the migration of certain sequences, whilst spermine enhanced theanomalous migration of a different set of sequences. Sequences with a GGC motif exhibitedgreater curvature than predicted by the presently-used angles for the nearest-neighbour wedgemodel and are especially sensitive to Mg2+. The data have implications for models for DNAcurvature and for environmentally-sensitive DNA conformations in the regulation of geneexpression.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalJournal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics
    Volume16
    Issue number4
    Pages (from-to)811-23
    Publication statusPublished - 1999

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