A stable antiparallel cytosine-thymine base pair occurring only at the end of a duplex. |
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Authors: | S A Vanhommerig M H van Genderen H M Buck |
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Institution: | Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands. |
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Abstract: | Ultraviolet hyperchromicity experiments indicate that in DNA duplex formation, a C-T mismatch is destabilizing in the center of a duplex, but behaves as a stable base pair at the terminus of a duplex. The C-T base pair is thought to contain two hydrogen bonds, but has thermodynamic parameters (delta Ho and delta Go of dissociation) that are similar to a G-C base pair. AMBER molecular mechanics calculations were performed to study the possible structural properties of DNA duplexes with central and terminal C-T combinations. These calculations also indicate that a central C-T pair destabilizes a duplex, while terminal C-T forms a stable base pair. Hydrogen bonding between cytosine and thymine occurs only in the energy-minimized structures when the helix diameter decreases and the propeller twist angle between the bases increases. These changes are found to occur only at the end of a duplex in the calculations, which may explain the experimental results. |
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