离子动态和水透效应在DNA多态化中的作用
Ivan Brovchenko1, Aliaksei Krukau, Alla Oleinikova
1Physical Chemistry, Technical University of Dortmund, Otto-Hahn-Str. 6, Dortmund, D-44227, Germany.
Journal of the American Chemical Society
|December 7, 2007
概括
计算机模拟揭示了DNA表面的离子和水动态如何随着水合而变化. 关键的水合水平显示,离子流动性逐步增加,这与DNA结构转变和水网络形成有关.
科学领域:
- 生物物理学的生物物理.
- 计算化学计算化学
- 结构生物学 结构生物学
背景情况:
- DNA结构和水分对其功能至关重要.
- 在DNA中低水分多态性并未完全被理解.
- 在这些转换中,DNA表面的离子和水动力学起着关键作用.
研究的目的:
- 在DNA表面的离子和水动力学研究,跨越一系列的水分水平.
- 了解DNA中低水化多态体背后的机制.
- 为了将离子移动性与DNA结构变化和水网络形成相关联.
主要方法:
- 用计算机模拟来研究DNA表面动态.
- 模拟了广泛的水分水平,重点是低水分多态.
- 分析的重点是离子流动性,水透和DNA结构转变 (A和B-DNA形式).
主要成果:
- 离子流动性在三个不同的水化水平上呈现逐步增加.
- 第一次增加恰逢水透过渡和A-到B-DNA过渡中点.
- 进一步的增加与透的水层和离子从DNA表面逃逸有关.
结论:
- 这些发现支持低水分DNA多态性的普遍机制.
- 水的透和结网络的形成是关键因素.
- 离子-DNA相互作用受到水解水平和水结构的强烈影响.
相关概念视频
Position-effect Variegation
In 1928, a German botanist Emil Heitz observed the moss nuclei with a DNA binding dye. He observed that while some chromatin regions decondense and spread out in the interphase nucleus, others do not. He termed them euchromatin and heterochromatin, respectively. He proposed that the heterochromatin regions reflect a functionally inactive state of the genome. It was later confirmed that heterochromatin is transcriptionally repressed, and euchromatin is transcriptionally active chromatin.
DNA as a Genetic Template
Two structural features of the DNA molecule provide a basis for the mechanisms of heredity: the four nucleotide bases and its double-stranded nature. The Watson-Crick model of double-helical DNA structure, proposed in 1952, drew heavily upon the X-ray crystallography work of researchers Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins. Watson, Crick, and Wilkins jointly received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work in 1962. Franklin was, controversially, excluded from the prize for...
Overview of DNA Repair
In order to be passed through generations, genomic DNA must be undamaged and error-free. However, every day, DNA in a cell undergoes several thousand to a million damaging events by natural causes and external factors. Ionizing radiation such as UV rays, free radicals produced during cellular respiration, and hydrolytic damage from metabolic reactions can alter the structure of DNA. Damages caused include single-base alteration, base dimerization, chain breaks, and cross-linkage.
Chemically...
Chemically...
Genome Copying Errors
DNA replication is a well-evolved process that copies millions of base pairs with high fidelity during each cell division. Occasionally a wrong base or a long stretch of wrong bases may get added to the daughter strands. If the errors are left unchecked, cells might accumulate several mutations that might endanger their survival. Therefore, the copying errors are checked and repaired at three levels.
Proofreading
Synthesis of new DNA molecules is carried out by the enzyme DNA polymerase, which adds nucleotides on the daughter strand complementary to the template DNA strand. DNA polymerase has a higher affinity to add the correct base and ensures fidelity during DNA replication. Furthermore, it exhibits proofreading activity during replication, using an exonuclease domain that cuts off incorrect nucleotides from the nascent DNA strand.
Errors During Replication are Corrected by the DNA Polymerase Enzyme
Errors During Replication are Corrected by the DNA Polymerase Enzyme
Proofreading
Synthesis of new DNA molecules starts when DNA polymerase links nucleotides together in a sequence that is complementary to the template DNA strand. DNA polymerase has a higher affinity for the correct base to ensure fidelity in DNA replication. The DNA polymerase furthermore proofreads during replication, using an exonuclease domain that cuts off incorrect nucleotides from the nascent DNA strand.Errors during Replication Are Corrected by the DNA Polymerase EnzymeGenomic DNA is synthesized in...


