On the relative ability of centromeric GNA triplets to form hairpins versus self-paired duplexes

While tandem repeats of the human centromere DNA pentamer sequence TGRAA form stable "self-complementary" [TGRAATGRAA]2 duplexes (R = G or A) containing the GA-bracketed unpaired purine stack motif, their phase-shifted variants NAATGNAATG (N = A, G, C, T) were found to exist in solution as an equilibrium mixture of a duplex containing the GA-bracketed unpaired stack motif and a hairpin containing a single-residue loop closed by a sheared G x A pair. The stability of the hairpin form relative to duplex form of GNA triplets was found to be GCA>GAA/GTA>>GGA, with the CAATGCAATG sequence mostly in the hairpin form and the GAATGGAATG sequence mostly in the [GAATGGAATG]2 duplex form. The chemical shifts of the H1' and H4' protons of the central N residue in GNA triplets were found to differ markedly in the duplex and hairpin forms and are diagnostic indicators of which conformation the oligonucleotide adopts. Comparison between the structures of the G x A-closed C loop motif and the G x A-bracketed unpaired G-stack [GGA]2 motif reveals remarkably similar stacking by the loop C residue and the intercalated G residue on the adjacent sheared G x A pair. The anomalous upfield chemical shifts of the H1' and H4' protons in [GGA]2 motifs and the H4' proton in GCA loops, and the different sugar conformations in these two motifs, can be explained by interstrand versus intrastrand stacking of the central (G or C) deoxyribose with the adenine base. Based on these studies, a DNA sequence GTGGAATGGAATGGAAC was designed and shown to form a duplex containing three [GGA]2 motifs, while its 9G-->9C analog GTGGAATGCAATGGAAC was found to adopt a stable hairpin containing a (GGA)2 motif in the stem and a G x A-closed single C-loop.