The poly dA helix: a new structural motif for high performance DNA-based molecular switches
Overview of Chakraborty S et al.
Authors | Chakraborty S  Sharma S  Maiti PK  Krishnan Y   |
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Affiliation | National Centre for Biological Sciences   TIFR   GKVK   Bangalore   India.   |
Journal | Nucleic Acids Res |
Year | 2009 |
Abstract
We report a pH-dependent conformational transition in short, defined homopolymeric deoxyadenosines (dA(15)) from a single helical structure with stacked nucleobases at neutral pH to a double-helical, parallel-stranded duplex held together by AH(+)-H(+)A base pairs at acidic pH. Using native PAGE, 2D NMR, circular dichroism (CD) and fluorescence spectroscopy, we have characterized the two different pH dependent forms of dA(15). The pH-triggered transition between the two defined helical forms of dA(15) is characterized by CD and fluorescence. The kinetics of this conformational switch is found to occur on a millisecond time scale. This robust, highly reversible, pH-induced transition between the two well-defined structured states of dA(15) represents a new molecular building block for the construction of quick-response, pH-switchable architectures in structural DNA nanotechnology.