Sequence-dependent structural properties of B-DNA: what have we learned in 40 years?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Sequence-dependent structural properties of B-DNA

T2 - what have we learned in 40 years?

AU - da Rosa, Gabriela

AU - Grille, Leandro

AU - Calzada, Victoria

AU - Ahmad, Katya

AU - Arcon, Juan Pablo

AU - Battistini, Federica

AU - Bayarri, Genís

AU - Bishop, Thomas

AU - Carloni, Paolo

AU - Cheatham Iii, Thomas

AU - Collepardo-Guevara, Rosana

AU - Czub, Jacek

AU - Espinosa, Jorge R

AU - Galindo-Murillo, Rodrigo

AU - Harris, Sarah A

AU - Hospital, Adam

AU - Laughton, Charles

AU - Maddocks, John H

AU - Noy, Agnes

AU - Orozco, Modesto

AU - Pasi, Marco

AU - Pérez, Alberto

AU - Petkevičiūtė-Gerlach, Daiva

AU - Sharma, Rahul

AU - Sun, Ran

AU - Dans, Pablo D

N1 - © International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB) and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details

PY - 2021/12/1

Y1 - 2021/12/1

N2 - The structure of B-DNA, the physiological form of the DNA molecule, has been a central topic in biology, chemistry and physics. Far from uniform and rigid, the double helix was revealed as a flexible and structurally polymorphic molecule. Conformational changes that lead to local and global changes in the helix geometry are mediated by a complex choreography of base and backbone rearrangements affecting the ability of the B-DNA to recognize ligands and consequently on its functionality. In this sense, the knowledge obtained from the sequence-dependent structural properties of B-DNA has always been thought crucial to rationalize how ligands and, most notably, proteins recognize B-DNA and modulate its activity, i.e. the structural basis of gene regulation. Honouring the anniversary of the first high-resolution X-ray structure of a B-DNA molecule, in this contribution, we present the most important discoveries of the last 40 years on the sequence-dependent structural and dynamical properties of B-DNA, from the early beginnings to the current frontiers in the field.

AB - The structure of B-DNA, the physiological form of the DNA molecule, has been a central topic in biology, chemistry and physics. Far from uniform and rigid, the double helix was revealed as a flexible and structurally polymorphic molecule. Conformational changes that lead to local and global changes in the helix geometry are mediated by a complex choreography of base and backbone rearrangements affecting the ability of the B-DNA to recognize ligands and consequently on its functionality. In this sense, the knowledge obtained from the sequence-dependent structural properties of B-DNA has always been thought crucial to rationalize how ligands and, most notably, proteins recognize B-DNA and modulate its activity, i.e. the structural basis of gene regulation. Honouring the anniversary of the first high-resolution X-ray structure of a B-DNA molecule, in this contribution, we present the most important discoveries of the last 40 years on the sequence-dependent structural and dynamical properties of B-DNA, from the early beginnings to the current frontiers in the field.

U2 - 10.1007/s12551-021-00893-8

DO - 10.1007/s12551-021-00893-8

M3 - Review article

C2 - 35059023

SN - 1867-2450

VL - 13

SP - 995

EP - 1005

JO - Biophysical Reviews

JF - Biophysical Reviews

IS - 6

ER -