The three‐dimensional structure of a DNA hairpin in solution

Abstract

The hairpin formed by d(ATCCTATTTATAGGAT) was studied by means of two‐dimensional NMR spectroscopy and conformational analysis. Almost all ¹H resonances of the stem region could be assigned, while the ¹H and ³¹P spectra of the loop region were interpreted completely; this includes the stereospecific assignment of the H5′ and H5” resonances. The derivation of the detailed loop structure was carried out in a stepwise fashion including some improved and new methods for structure determination from NMR data. In the first step, the mononucleotide structures were examined. The conformational space available to the mononucleotide was scanned systematically by varying the glycosidic torsion angle and pseudorotational parameters. Each generated conformer was tested against the experimental J coupling constants and NOE parameters. In the following stage, the structures of dinucleotides and longer fragments were derived. Inter‐residue distances between protons were calculated by means of a procedure in which the simulated NOEs, obtained via a relaxation‐matrix approach, were fitted to the experimental NOEs without the introduction of a molecular model. In addition, the backbone torsion angles β, γ and ɛ were deduced from homocoupling and heterocoupling constants. These data served as constraints in the next step, in which the loop sequence was subjected to a multi‐conformer generation procedure. The resulting structures were tested against the mentioned constraints and disregarded if these constraints were violated. This yielded a family of structures for the loop region, confined to a relatively narrow conformational space. A representative conformation was subsequently docked on a B‐type stem which fulfilled the structural constraints (derived from the NMR experiments for the stem region) to yield the hairpin structure. Results obtained from subsequent restrained‐molecular‐mechanics as well as free‐molecular‐mechanics calculations are in accordance with those obtained by means of the analysis described above. The structure of the hairpin loop is a compactly folded conformation and the first base of the central TTTA region forms a Hoogsteen T‐A pair with the fourth base. This Hoogsteen base pair is stacked upon the sixth base pair of the B‐type double‐helical stem. The second base of the loop is folded into the minoi groove, whereas the third base of the loop is partly stacked on the first and fourth bases. The phosphate backbone exhibits a sharp turn between the third and fourth nucleotides of the loop. The peculiar structure of this hairpin loop is discussed in relation to loop folding in DNA and RNA hairpins and in relation to a general model for loop folding.