Conformational dynamics of non-B DNA in vivo

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24550188
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Chemistry related to living body
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: CHOI Jungkweon 大阪大学, 産業科学研究所, 助教 (00574328)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: Non-B DNA / i-motif / G-quadruplex / Charge transfer / Folding / RecA protein

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The charge transfer in i-motif and G-quadruplex DNA, which have a tetraplex structure, has been investigated by various time-resolved spectroscopies. The result showed that i-motif and G-quadruplex DNA can act as a good electron carrier or hole captor in DNA-based electronic devices.
Meanwhile, the RecA@ssDNA filament, which is formed by the interaction between RecA protein and G-rich sequence, was dissociated by the addition of K+ ions and the dissociated G-rich sequence was quickly folded to G-quadruplex structure. The conformation of G-quadruplex is converged to the specific G-quadruplex with one double-chain-reversal loop upon association of RecA protein. Furthermore, I found that the folding reaction of G-rich sequence (37htel) may undergo with two-state mechanism without any detectable intermediate and that the global structureis still occurring even after the formation of a secondary structure.

Free Research Field

Biophysics