DNAの柔らかさの塩基配列依存性と水和の関係

DNA sequence-dependent deformability and hydration

米谷 佳晃*; 藤井 聡*; 皿井 明倫*; 河野 秀俊; 郷 信広

Yonetani, Yoshiteru*; Fujii, Satoshi*; Sarai, Akinori*; Kono, Hidetoshi; Go, Nobuhiro

DNA conformational deformability depends on the sequence composition, and their variability has been believed to be one of important factors in the specific recognition of a DNA sequence by regulatory proteins. The hydration patterns on the DNA surface also depend on DNA sequence. One typical hydration pattern observed for DNA minor grooves is hydration spine, which is composed of the highly ordered water molecules aligned along the minor groove. For example, A-T rich sequences are favorable for the spine formation. The fact that both DNA conformational deformability and hydration vary with the DNA sequence raises the following question: How and to what extent does they relate to each other? To address this question, by using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations we examined hydration patterns of 136 all possible DNA tetramers as well as their deformability studied previously.