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Yuuki Uotani

Publications and source records attributed to Yuuki Uotani.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Recognition of the base pair-mimic nucleosides by DNA polymerases.

We previously reported that the deoxyadenosine derivative tethering the phenyl group at the N6 position of deoxyadenosine, A(phe) stacked efficiently with the adjacent nucleotide bases at a DNA duplex terminus and in the middle of a DNA duplex. In contrast with the observations for A(phe), this study revealed that the phenyl group of the deoxycytidine derivative, C(phe) located outside the helix and allowed the base pair formation with guanine in a DNA duplex, although its phenyl group could stack with the adjacent DNA bases as efficient as A(phe). Klenow fragment of DNA polymerase I and T7 DNA polymerase selectively incorporated dTTP and dGTP opposite A(phe) and C(phe) in the template DNA, respectively, implying that the conformation of A(phe) differs between in the DNA polymerase and in solution.

Adenosine↗

DNA base flipping by a base pair-mimic nucleoside.

On the basis of non-covalent bond interactions in nucleic acids, we synthesized the deoxyadenosine derivatives tethering a phenyl group (X) and a naphthyl group (Z) by an amide linker, which mimic a Watson-Crick base pair. Circular dichroism spectra indicated that the duplexes containing X and Z formed a similar conformation regardless of the opposite nucleotide species (A, G, C, T and an abasic site analogue F), which was not observed for the natural duplexes. The values among the natural duplexes containing the A/A, A/G, A/C, A/T and A/F pairs differed by 5.2 kcal mol(-1) while that among the duplexes containing X or Z in place of the adenine differed by only 1.9 or 2.8 kcal mol(-1), respectively. Fluorescence quenching experiments confirmed that 2-amino purine opposite X adopted an unstacked conformation. The structural and thermodynamic analyses suggest that the aromatic hydrocarbon group of X and Z intercalates into a double helix, resulting in the opposite nucleotide base flipping into an unstacked position regardless of the nucleotide species. This observation implies that modifications at the aromatic hydrocarbon group and the amide linker may expand the application of the base pair-mimic nucleosides for molecular biology and biotechnology.

Base Pairing↗

Site-selective RNA cleavage by DNA bearing a base pair-mimic nucleoside.

We have synthesized the deoxyadenosine derivative tethering a phenyl group (X), which mimics the Watson-Crick A/T base pair. The RNA/DNA hybrid duplexes containing X in the middle of the DNA sequence showed a similar thermal stability regardless of the ribonucleotide species (A, G, C, or U) opposite to X, probably because of the phenyl group stacking inside of the duplex accompanied by the opposite ribonucleotide base flipped in an extrahelical position. The RNA strand hybridized with the DNA strand bearing X was cleaved on the 3'-side of the ribonucleotide opposite to X in the presence of MgCl2, and the RNA sequence to be cleaved was not restricted. The site-specific RNA hydrolysis suggests that the DNA strand bearing X has the advantage of the site-selective base flipping in the target sequence and the development of a "universal deoxyribozyme" to exclusively cleave a target RNA sequence.

Adenosine↗

Conformational change of a nucleotide by a base-pair mimic nucleoside in the complementary DNA strand.

On the basis of the non-covalent bond interactions in nucleic acids, we have synthesized a novel adenosine derivative tethering a phenyl group. Structure and thermal stability of the DNA duplexes bearing the adenosine derivative in the middle of a strand were investigated by CD spectra and the UV melting curves. We found that the conformation and the interactions of the duplexes were similar regardless of the nucleotide facing with the adenosine derivative in a duplex. This observation suggests the base pair-mimic geometry of the adenosine derivative accompanied with a conformational change of the nucleotide in the complementary strand.

Adenosine↗

Large stacking stability of a base pair-mimic nucleotide on the DNA duplex.

We synthesized novel adenosine derivatives tethering an aromatic hydrocarbon group by an amido linker. The single adenosine derivatives at 5' dangling end stabilized the DNA duplex of 5'-ATGCGCAT-3' more or equally than Watson-Crick base pair. When the number of the dangling residues increased from one to three, the duplex stability became larger by 1.8-3.6 kcal/mol. When the adenosine derivative was opposite to an abasic site in a DNA duplex, the destabilization by the abasic site was significantly reduced. These observations suggest that the adenosine derivatives developed in this study can stack with a DNA base pair by forming a base pair-mimic geometry.

Base Pairing↗