Arginine-phosphate salt bridges between histones and DNA: intermolecular actuators that control nucleosome architecture.

ABSTRACT: Structural bioinformatics and van der Waals density functional theory are combined to investigate the mechanochemical impact of a major class of histone-DNA interactions, namely, the formation of salt bridges between arginine residues in histones and phosphate groups on the DNA backbone. Principal component analysis reveals that the configurational fluctuations of the sugar-phosphate backbone display sequence-specific directionality and variability, and clustering of nucleosome crystal structures identifies two major salt-bridge configurations: a monodentate form in which the arginine end-group guanidinium only forms one hydrogen bond with the phosphate, and a bidentate form in which it forms two. Density functional theory calculations highlight that the combination of sequence, denticity,

SUBMITTER: Yusufaly TI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5942453 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature