Hydrogen-bonded proton transfer in the protonated guanine-cytosine (GC+H)+ base pair

The single proton transfer at the different sites of the Watson-Crick (WC) guanine-cytosine (GC) DNA base pair are studied here using density functional methods. The conventional protonated structures, transition state (TS) and proton-transferred product (PT) structures of every relevant species are optimized. Each transition state and proton-transferred product structure has been compared with the corresponding conventional protonated structure to demonstrate the process of proton transfer and the change of geometrical structures. The relative energies of the protonated tautomers and the proton-transfer energy profiles in gas and solvent are analyzed. The proton-transferred product structure G(+H(+))-H(+)C(N3)(-H(+))(PT) has the lowest relative energy for which only two hydrogen bonds exist. Almost all 14 isomers of the protonated GC base pair involve hydrogen-bonded proton transfer following the three pathways, with the exception of structure G-H(+)C(O2). When the positive charge is primarily "located" on the guanine moiety (H(+)G-C, G-H(+)C(C4), and G-H(+)C(C6)), the H(1) proton transfers from the N(1) site of guanine to the N(3) site of cytosine. The structures G-H(+)C(C5) and G-H(+)C(C4) involve H(4a) proton transfer from the N(4) of cytosine to the O(6) site of guanine. H(2a) proton transfer from the N(2) site of guanine to the O(2) site of cytosine is found only for the structure G-H(+)C(C4). The structures to which a proton is added on the six-centered sites adjoining the hydrogen bonds are more prone to proton transfer in the gas phase, whereas a proton added on the minor groove and the sites adjoining the hydrogen bonds is favorable to the proton transfer in energy in the aqueous phase.