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Nucleic Acids Research Advance Access published online on July 7, 2007
Nucleic Acids Research, doi:10.1093/nar/gkm511
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© 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.


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D. J. Wilton, M. Ghosh, K. V. A. Chary, K. Akasaka, and M. P. Williamson
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[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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