Conformation of oligodeoxynucleotides associated with anionic liposomes

There has been significant progress in the development of antisense therapeutics for a wide range of medicinal applications. Further improvement will require better understanding of cellular internalization, intracellular distribution mechanisms and interactions of oligodeoxynucleotides with cellular organelles. In many of these processes interactions of oligodeoxynucleotides with lipid assemblies may have a significant influence on their function. Divalent cations have been shown to assist cellular internalization of certain oligodeoxynucleotides and to affect their conformation. In this work we have investigated conformational changes of phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotides upon divalent cation-mediated interaction with 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylglycerol (DPPG) liposomes. For the sequences investigated here the native conformation underwent significant change in the presence of anionic DPPG liposomes only when divalent cations were present. This change is sequence-specific, ion-selective and distinct from previously reported changes in oligodeoxynucleotide structure due to divalent cations alone. The conformation of one oligodeoxynucleotide in the presence of calcium and DPPG yields circular dichroism spectra which suggest C-DNA but which also have characteristics unlike any previously reported spectra of liposome-associated DNA structure. The data suggest the possibility of a unique conformation of liposome-associated ODNs and reflect a surprisingly strong tendency of single-stranded DNA to retain a characteristic conformation even when adsorbed to a surface. This conformation may be related to cellular uptake, transport of oligodeoxynucleotides in cells and/or function.