Residual dipolar coupling constants and structure determination of large DNA duplexes

Several NMR works have shown that long-range information provided by residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) significantly improve the global structure definition of RNAs and DNAs. Most of these are based on the use of a large set of RDCs, the collect of which requires samples labeled with (13)C, (15)N, and sometimes, (2)H. Here, we carried out torsion-angle dynamics simulations on a non-self complementary DNA fragment of 17 base-pairs, d(GGAAAATATCTAGCAGT).(ACTGCTAGAGATTTTCC). This reproduces the U5 LTR distal end of the HIV-1 cDNA that contains the enzyme integrase binding site. Simulations aimed at evaluating the impact of RDCs on the structure definition of long oligonucleotides, were performed in incorporating (i) nOe-distances at both < 4.5 A and < 5 A; (ii) a small set of (13)C-(1)H RDCs, easily detectable at the natural abundance, and (iii) a larger set of RDCs only accessible through the (13)C labeling of DNAs. Agreement between a target structure and a simulated structure was measured in terms of precision and accuracy. Results allowed to define conditions in which accurate DNA structures can be determined. We confirmed the strong impact of RDCs on the structure determination, and, above all, we found that a small set of RDC constraints (ca. 50) detectable at the natural abundance is sufficient to accurately derive the global and local DNA duplex structures when used in conjunction with nOe-distances < 5 A.