Orientation preferences of backbone secondary amide functional groups in peptide nucleic acid complexes: quantum chemical calculations reveal an intrinsic preference of cationic D-amino acid-based chiral PNA analogues for the P-form.

ABSTRACT: Geometric descriptions of nonideal interresidue hydrogen bonding and backbone-base water bridging in the minor groove are established in terms of polyamide backbone carbonyl group orientation from analyses of residue junction conformers in experimentally determined peptide nucleic acid (PNA) complexes. Two types of interresidue hydrogen bonding are identified in PNA conformers in heteroduplexes with nucleic acids that adopt A-like basepair stacking. Quantum chemical calculations on the binding of a water molecule to an O2 base atom in glycine-based PNA thymine dimers indicate that junctions modeled with P-form backbone conformations are lower in energy than a dimer comprising the predominant conformation observed in A-like helices. It is further shown in model systems that PNA analogs base

SUBMITTER: Topham CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1779963 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature