Skip Navigation


Nucleic Acids Research Advance Access originally published online on July 7, 2007
Nucleic Acids Research 2007 35(14):4800-4808; doi:10.1093/nar/gkm511
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow Print PDF (4068K) Freely available
Right arrow Screen PDF (632K) Freely available
Right arrowOA All Versions of this Article:
35/14/4800    most recent
gkm511v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (2)
Right arrow Commercial Re-use Guidelines
for Open Access NAR Content
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Girard, E.
Right arrow Articles by Fourme, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Girard, E.
Right arrow Articles by Fourme, R.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Nucleic Acids Research, 2007, Vol. 35, No. 14 4800-4808
© 2007 The Author(s)
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Structural Biology

Adaptation of the base-paired double-helix molecular architecture to extreme pressure

Eric Girard1,*, Thierry Prangé2, Anne-Claire Dhaussy3, Evelyne Migianu-Griffoni4, Marc Lecouvey4, Jean-Claude Chervin5, Mohamed Mezouar6, Richard Kahn7 and Roger Fourme1

1Synchrotron-SOLEIL, L'Orme des Merisiers, Saint-Aubin, BP 48, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, 2Laboratoire de Cristallographie et RMN Biologiques (UMR 8015 CNRS) Université Paris-5, 4 Avenue de l’Observatoire, 75006 Paris, 3CRISMAT, ENSICAEN, Boulevard du Maréchal Juin, 14000 Caen, 4BioMoCeTi (UMR CNRS 7033), UFR S.M.B.H., Université Paris-13, 74 rue Marcel Cachin, 93017 Bobigny Cedex, 5PMD, IMPMC, Université Pierre et Marie Curie – CNRS UMR7590, 140 rue de Lourmel, 75015 Paris, 6ESRF, BP 220, 38027 Grenoble Cedex and 7IBS, UMR 5075 CEA-CNRS-UJF, 41 rue Jules Horowitz, 38027 Grenoble Cedex, France

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +33 169359609; Fax: +33 169359456; Email: eric.girard{at}synchrotron-soleil.fr

Received May 3, 2007. Revised June 13, 2007. Accepted June 13, 2007.

The behaviour of the d(GGTATACC) oligonucleotide has been investigated by X-ray crystallography at 295 K in the range from ambient pressure to 2 GPa (~20 000 atm). Four 3D-structures of the A-DNA form (at ambient pressure, 0.55, 1.09 and 1.39 GPa) were refined at 1.60 or 1.65 Å resolution. In addition to the diffraction pattern of the A-form, the broad meridional streaks previously explained by occluded B-DNA octamers within the channels of the crystalline A-form matrix were observed up to at least 2 GPa. This work highlights an important property of nucleic acids, their capability to withstand very high pressures, while keeping in such conditions a nearly invariant geometry of base pairs that store and carry genetic information. The double-helix base-paired architecture behaves as a molecular spring, which makes it especially adapted to very harsh conditions. These features may have contributed to the emergence of a RNA World at prebiotic stage.

The authors wish it to be known that, in their opinion, the first two authors should be regarded as joint First Authors.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Nucleic Acids ResHome page
D. J. Wilton, M. Ghosh, K. V. A. Chary, K. Akasaka, and M. P. Williamson
Structural change in a B-DNA helix with hydrostatic pressure
Nucleic Acids Res., July 1, 2008; 36(12): 4032 - 4037.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.