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Poly(dA)ṁpoly(dT) is a B-type double helix with a distinctively narrow minor groove

Nature volume 325, pages 821–823 (1987)Cite this article

Abstract

The structure of poly(dA)ṁpoly(dT) currently arouses great interest, mainly because dAnṁdTn stretches are associated with considerable DNA bending1,2. Until recently the heteronomous DNA described by Arnott et al.3, with the poly(dA) and poly(dT) chains in A and B conformations respectively, was the only detailed model of this structure. Following our earlier studies of the interaction of DNA and monovalent ions4–6, we examined the X-ray diffraction of the bivalent Ca2+ salt of poly(dA)-poly(dT) (Ca-poly(d A)ṁpoly(dT)) and found no sign of a heteronomous structure: Ca-poly(dA)ṁpoly(dT) in fibres shows fully equivalent B-type conformations of the opposite sugar–phosphate chains. A revision of the structure of the sodium salt, Na-poly(dA).poly(dT), based on this result, yields only a slightly heteronomous structure with each chain in a B-type conformation, which is in much better agreement with the experimental data underlying the original heteronomous model3. Both structures, Ca- and Na-poly(dA)ṁpoly(dT), have a minor groove narrower than that of the B form: this peculiarity seems to be very important for the interaction of poly(d A)ṁpoly(dT) and biologically significant molecules (including proteins and antibiotics). The specific base-pair positions in poly(dA)ṁpoly(dT) may account for the DNA bending adjacent to dAn-dTn tracts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Molecular Genetics, USSR Academy of Sciences, 46 Kurchatov Square, Moscow, 123182, USSR

    D. G. Alexeev, A. A. Lipanov & I. Ya. Skuratovskii

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  1. D. G. Alexeev
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  2. A. A. Lipanov
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  3. I. Ya. Skuratovskii
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Alexeev, D., Lipanov, A. & Ya. Skuratovskii, I. Poly(dA)ṁpoly(dT) is a B-type double helix with a distinctively narrow minor groove. Nature 325, 821–823 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/325821a0

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