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Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society (BKCS)

ISSN 0253-2964(Print)
ISSN 1229-5949(Online)
Volume 33, Number 11
BKCSDE 33(11)
November 20, 2012

Title	Contribution of Counterion Entropy to the Salt-Induced Transition Between B-DNA and Z-DNA
Author	Youn-Kyoung Lee, Juyong Lee, Jung Hyun Choi, Chaok Seok*
Keywords	Z-DNA, B-Z transition, MM-PBSA, Classical density functional theory, Counterion entropy
Abstract	Formation of Z-DNA, a left-handed double helix, from B-DNA, the canonical right-handed double helix, occurs during important biological processes such as gene expression and DNA transcription. Such B-Z transitions can also be induced by high salt concentration in vitro, but the changes in the relative stability of BDNA and Z-DNA with salt concentration have not been fully explained despite numerous attempts. For example, electrostatic effects alone could not account for salt-induced B-Z transitions in previous studies. In this paper, we propose that the B-Z transition can be explained if counterion entropy is considered along with the electrostatic interactions. This can be achieved by conducting all-atom, explicit-solvent MD simulations followed by MM-PBSA and molecular DFT calculations. Our MD simulations show that counterions tend to bind at specific sites in B-DNA and Z-DNA, and that more ions cluster near Z-DNA than near B-DNA. Moreover, the difference in counterion ordering near B-DNA and Z-DNA is larger at a low salt concentration than at a high concentration. The results imply that the exclusion of counterions by Z-DNA-binding proteins may facilitate Z-DNA formation under physiological conditions.
Page	3719 - 3726
Full Text	PDF / Supporting Information

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