New Insights into Quinine-DNA Binding Using Raman Spectroscopy and Molecular Dynamics Simulations.

ABSTRACT: Quinine's ability to bind DNA and potentially inhibit transcription and translation has been examined as a mode of action for its antimalarial activity. UV absorption and fluorescence-based studies have lacked the chemical specificity to develop an unambiguous molecular-level picture of the binding interaction. To address this, we use Raman spectroscopy and molecular dynamics (MD) to investigate quinine-DNA interactions. We demonstrate that quinine's strongest Raman band in the fingerprint region, which derives from a symmetric stretching mode of the quinoline ring, is highly sensitive to the local chemical environment and pH. The frequency shifts observed for this mode in solvents of varying polarity can be explained in terms of the Stark effect using a simple Onsager solvation model, ind

SUBMITTER: Punihaole D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6425490 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature