Download MendeleyDefining GC-specificity in the minor groove: side-by-side binding of the di-imidazole lexitropsin to C-A-T-G-G-C-C-A-T-G.
Kopka, M.L., Goodsell, D.S., Han, G.W., Chiu, T.K., Lown, J.W., Dickerson, R.E.(1997) Structure 5: 1033-1046
- PubMed: 9309219
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0969-2126(97)00255-4
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:
334D - PubMed Abstract:
Polyamide drugs, such as netropsin, distamycin and their lexitropsin derivatives, can be inserted into a narrow B-DNA minor groove to form 1:1 complexes that can distinguish AT base pairs from GC, but cannot detect end-for-end base-pair reversals such as TA for AT. In contrast, 2:1 side-by-side polyamide drug complexes potentially are capable of such discrimination. Imidazole (Im) and pyrrole (Py) rings side-by-side read a GC base pair with the Im ring recognizing the guanine side. But the reason for this specific G-Im association is unclear because the guanine NH2 group sits in the center of the groove. A 2:1 drug:DNA complex that presents Im at both ends of a GC base pair should help unscramble the issue of imidazole reading specificity.
Organizational Affiliation:
Molecular Biology Institute, University of California at Los Angeles 90095, USA. kopka@ewald.mbi.ucla.edu
