Elsamicin A can convert the Z-form of poly[d(G-C)] and poly[(G-m5C)] back to B-form DNA. |
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Authors: | E Jiménez-García J Portugal |
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Institution: | Departamento de Bioquímica y Fisiologia, Facultad de Química, Universidad de Barcelona, Spain. |
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Abstract: | The interaction of poly(G-C)] and polyd(G-m5C)] with the antitumor antibiotic elsamicin A, which binds to alternating guanine + cytosine tracts in DNA, has been studied under the B and Z conformations. Both the rate and the extent of the B-to-Z transition are diminished by the antibiotic, as inferred by spectroscopic methods under ionic conditions that otherwise favor the left-handed conformation of the polynucleotides. Moreover, elsamicin converts the Z-form DNA back to the B-form. The circular dichroism data indicate that elsamicin binds to polyd(G-C)] and polyd(G-m5C)] to form a right-handed bound elsamicin region(s). The transition can be followed by changes of the molar ellipticity at 250 nm, thus providing a convenient wavelength to monitor the Z-to-B conformational change of the polymers as elsamicin is added. The elsamicin A effect might be explained by a model in which the antibiotic binds preferently to a B-form DNA, playing a role as an allosteric effector on the equilibrium between the B and Z conformations, thus favoring the right-handed one. |
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