Journal of the American Chemical Society
Journal of the American Chemical Society
4 years ago

Small Molecule Recognition Triggers Secondary and Tertiary Interactions in DNA Folding and Hammerhead Ribozyme Catalysis

Small Molecule Recognition Triggers Secondary and Tertiary Interactions in DNA Folding and Hammerhead Ribozyme Catalysis
Chris DeSantis, Jie Mao, Dennis Bong
We have identified tris(2-aminoethyl)amine (tren)-derived scaffolds with two (t2M) or four (t4M) melamine rings that can target oligo T/U domains in DNA/RNA. Unstructured T-rich DNAs cooperatively fold with the tren derivatives to form hairpin-like structures. Both t2M and t4M act as functional switches in a family of hammerhead ribozymes deactivated by stem or loop replacement with a U-rich sequence. Catalysis of bond scission in these hammerhead ribozymes could be restored by putative t2M/t4M refolding of stem secondary structure or tertiary bridging interactions between loop and stem. The simplicity of the t2M/t4M binding site enables programming of allostery in RNAs, recoding oligo-U domains as potential sites for secondary structure or tertiary contact. In combination with a facile and general method for installation of the t2M motif on primary amines, the method described herein streamlines design of synthetic allosteric riboswitches and small molecule–nucleic acid complexes.

Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.7b05448

DOI: 10.1021/jacs.7b05448

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