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Nucleic Acids Research Advance Access published online on May 31, 2008
Nucleic Acids Research, doi:10.1093/nar/gkn350
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© 2008 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

Structural change in a B-DNA helix with hydrostatic pressure

David J. Wilton1, Mahua Ghosh2, K. V. A. Chary2, Kazuyuki Akasaka3 and Mike P. Williamson1,*

1Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, Firth Court, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK, 2Department of Chemical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Colaba, Mumbai 400 005, India and 3Department of Biotechnological Science, School of Biology-Oriented Science and Technology, Kinki University, 930 Nishimitani, Uchita-cho, Wakayama 649-6493, Japan

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +44 114 222 4224; Fax: +44 114 222 2800; Email: m.williamson{at}sheffield.ac.uk

Received February 18, 2008. Revised April 28, 2008. Accepted May 15, 2008.

Study of the effects of pressure on macromolecular structure improves our understanding of the forces governing structure, provides details on the relevance of cavities and packing in structure, increases our understanding of hydration and provides a basis to understand the biology of high-pressure organisms. A study of DNA, in particular, helps us to understand how pressure can affect gene activity. Here we present the first high-resolution experimental study of B-DNA structure at high pressure, using NMR data acquired at pressures up to 200 MPa (2 kbar). The structure of DNA compresses very little, but is distorted so as to widen the minor groove, and to compress hydrogen bonds, with AT pairs compressing more than GC pairs. The minor groove changes are suggested to lead to a compression of the hydration water in the minor groove.

Present address: Mahua Ghosh, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, IIT Kharagpur Extension Centre, Kolkota 700106, India


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