Effect of Hydroxymethylcytosine on the Structure and Stability of Holliday Junctions.

ABSTRACT: 5-Hydroxymethylcytosine (^5hmC) is an epigenetic marker that has recently been shown to promote homologous recombination (HR). In this study, we determine the effects of ^5hmC on the structure, thermodynamics, and conformational dynamics of the Holliday junction (the four-stranded DNA intermediate associated with HR) in its native stacked-X form. The hydroxymethyl and the control methyl substituents are placed in the context of an amphimorphic G^xCC trinucleotide core sequence (where ^xC is C, ^5hmC, or the methylated ^5mC), which is part of a sequence also recognized by endonuclease G to promote HR. The hydroxymethyl group of the ^5hmC junction adopts two distinct rotational conformations, with an in-base-plane form bei

SUBMITTER: Vander Zanden CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5258817 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature