Understanding the effect of the nature of the nucleobase in the loops on the stability of the i-motif structure

Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2016 Mar 21;18(11):7997-8004. doi: 10.1039/c5cp07428b.

Abstract

The nature and the length of loops connecting cytosine tracts in i-motif structures may affect their stability. In this work, the influence of the nature of the nucleobases located in two of the loops of an intramolecular i-motif is studied using spectroscopy, separation techniques, and multivariate data analysis. The insertion of bases other than thymine induces an additional acid-base equilibrium with pKa ∼ 4.5. The presence of two guanine bases in the loops, placed opposite to each other, decreases the thermal stability of the structure. In contrast, thymine and cytosine bases in these positions stabilize the structure.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Base Pairing*
  • Chromatography, Gel
  • Circular Dichroism
  • Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Nucleic Acid Conformation*
  • Nucleic Acids / chemistry*

Substances

  • Nucleic Acids