Biomedical subjects

Kelly M Thayer

Publications and source records attributed to Kelly M Thayer.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Molecular dynamics simulations of the 136 unique tetranucleotide sequences of DNA oligonucleotides. II: sequence context effects on the dynamical structures of the 10 unique dinucleotide steps.

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations including water and counterions on B-DNA oligomers containing all 136 unique tetranucleotide basepair steps are reported. The objective is to obtain the calculated dynamical structure for at least two copies of each case, use the results to examine issues with regard to convergence and dynamical stability of MD on DNA, and determine the significance of sequence context effects on all unique dinucleotide steps. This information is essential to understand sequence effects on DNA structure and has implications on diverse problems in the structural biology of DNA. Calculations were carried out on the 136 cases embedded in 39 DNA oligomers with repeating tetranucleotide sequences, capped on both ends by GC pairs and each having a total length of 15 nucleotide pairs. All simulations were carried out using a well-defined state-of-the-art MD protocol, the AMBER suite of programs, and the parm94 force field. In a previous article (Beveridge et al. 2004. Biophysical Journal. 87:3799-3813), the research design, details of the simulation protocol, and informatics issues were described. Preliminary results from 15 ns MD trajectories were presented for the d(CpG) step in all 10 unique sequence contexts. The results indicated the sequence context effects to be small for this step, but revealed that MD on DNA at this length of trajectory is subject to surprisingly persistent cooperative transitions of the sugar-phosphate backbone torsion angles alpha and gamma. In this article, we report detailed analysis of the entire trajectory database and occurrence of various conformational substates and its impact on studies of context effects. The analysis reveals a possible direct correspondence between the sequence-dependent dynamical tendencies of DNA structure and the tendency to undergo transitions that "trap" them in nonstandard conformational substates. The difference in mean of the observed basepair step helicoidal parameter distribution with different flanking sequence sometimes differs by as much as one standard deviation, indicating that the extent of sequence effects could be significant. The observations reveal that the impact of a flexible dinucleotide such as CpG could extend beyond the immediate basepair neighbors. The results in general provide new insight into MD on DNA and the sequence-dependent dynamical structural characteristics of DNA.

Base Pairing↗

PubMed2004

Ion motions in molecular dynamics simulations on DNA.

Counterions play a significant role in DNA structure and function, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations offer the prospect of detailed description of the dynamical structure of ions at the molecular level. However, the motions of mobile counterions are notably slow to converge in MD on DNA. Obtaining accurate and reliable MD simulations requires knowing just how much sampling is required for convergence of each of the properties of interest. To address this issue, MD on a d(CGCGAATTCGCG) duplex in a dilute aqueous solution of water and 22 Na+ counterions was performed until convergence was achieved. The calculated first shell ion occupancies and DNA-Na+ radial distribution functions were computed as a function of time to assess convergence, and compared with relaxation times of the DNA internal parameters shift, slide, rise, tilt, roll, and twist. The sequence dependence of fractional occupancies of ions in the major and minor grooves of the DNA is examined, and the possibility of correlation between ion proximity and DNA minor groove widths is investigated.

Computer Simulation↗

PubMed2004

Molecular dynamics simulations of the 136 unique tetranucleotide sequences of DNA oligonucleotides. I. Research design and results on d(CpG) steps.

We describe herein a computationally intensive project aimed at carrying out molecular dynamics (MD) simulations including water and counterions on B-DNA oligomers containing all 136 unique tetranucleotide base sequences. This initiative was undertaken by an international collaborative effort involving nine research groups, the "Ascona B-DNA Consortium" (ABC). Calculations were carried out on the 136 cases imbedded in 39 DNA oligomers with repeating tetranucleotide sequences, capped on both ends by GC pairs and each having a total length of 15 nucleotide pairs. All MD simulations were carried out using a well-defined protocol, the AMBER suite of programs, and the parm94 force field. Phase I of the ABC project involves a total of approximately 0.6 mus of simulation for systems containing approximately 24,000 atoms. The resulting trajectories involve 600,000 coordinate sets and represent approximately 400 gigabytes of data. In this article, the research design, details of the simulation protocol, informatics issues, and the organization of the results into a web-accessible database are described. Preliminary results from 15-ns MD trajectories are presented for the d(CpG) step in its 10 unique sequence contexts, and issues of stability and convergence, the extent of quasiergodic problems, and the possibility of long-lived conformational substates are discussed.

Base Sequence↗

PubMed2004

Molecular dynamics simulations of DNA curvature and flexibility: helix phasing and premelting.

Recent studies of DNA axis curvature and flexibility based on molecular dynamics (MD) simulations on DNA are reviewed. The MD simulations are on DNA sequences up to 25 base pairs in length, including explicit consideration of counterions and waters in the computational model. MD studies are described for ApA steps, A-tracts, for sequences of A-tracts with helix phasing. In MD modeling, ApA steps and A-tracts in aqueous solution are essentially straight, relatively rigid, and exhibit the characteristic features associated with the B'-form of DNA. The results of MD modeling of A-tract oligonucleotides are validated by close accord with corresponding crystal structure results and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) and residual dipolar coupling (RDC) structures of d(CGCGAATTCGCG) and d(GGCAAAAAACGG). MD simulation successfully accounts for enhanced axis curvature in a set of three sequences with phased A-tracts studied to date. The primary origin of the axis curvature in the MD model is found at those pyrimidine/purine YpR "flexible hinge points" in a high roll, open hinge conformational substate. In the MD model of axis curvature in a DNA sequence with both phased A-tracts and YpR steps, the A-tracts appear to act as positioning elements that make the helix phasing more precise, and key YpR steps in the open hinge state serve as curvature elements. Our simulations on a phased A-tract sequence as a function of temperature show that the MD simulations exhibit a premelting transition in close accord with experiment, and predict that the mechanism involves a B'-to-B transition within A-tracts coupled with the prediction of a transition in key YpR steps from the high roll, open hinge, to a low roll, closed hinge substate. Diverse experimental observations on DNA curvature phenomena are examined in light of the MD model with no serious discrepancies. The collected MD results provide independent support for the "non-A-tract model" of DNA curvature. The "junction model" is indicated to be a special case of the non-A-tract model when there is a Y base at the 5' end of an A-tract. In accord with crystallography, the "ApA wedge model" is not supported by MD.

Base Sequence↗

PubMed2002

Hidden Markov models from molecular dynamics simulations on DNA.

An enhanced bioinformatics tool incorporating the participation of molecular structure as well as sequence in protein DNA recognition is proposed and tested. Boltzmann probability models of sequence-dependent DNA structure from all-atom molecular dynamics simulations were obtained and incorporated into hidden Markov models (HMMs) that can recognize molecular structural signals as well as sequence in protein-DNA binding sites on a genome. The binding of catabolite activator protein (CAP) to cognate DNA sequences was used as a prototype case for implementation and testing of the method. The results indicate that even HMMs based on probabilistic roll/tilt dinucleotide models of sequence-dependent DNA structure have some capability to discriminate between known CAP binding and nonbinding sites and to predict putative CAP binding sites in unknowns. Restricting HMMs to sequence only in regions of strong consensus in which the protein makes base specific contacts with the cognate DNA further improved the discriminatory capabilities of the HMMs. Comparison of results with controls based on sequence only indicates that extending the definition of consensus from sequence to structure improves the transferability of the HMMs, and provides further supportive evidence of a role for dynamical molecular structure as well as sequence in genomic regulatory mechanisms.

DNA↗