Effect of 1-methyladenine on double-helical DNA structures

  • FEBS Lett. 2008 May 14;582(11):1629-33. doi: 10.1016/j.febslet.2008.04.013.
Hao Yang  1 ,  Yingqian Zhan ,  Dickson Fenn ,  Lai Man Chi ,  Sik Lok Lam
Affiliations
  • 1. Department of Chemistry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong.
PMID: 18435925 DOI: 10.1016/j.febslet.2008.04.013
Abstract

Methylation at the N1 site of adenine leads to the formation of cytotoxic 1-methyladenine (m1A). Since the N1 site of adenine is involved in the hydrogen bonding of T.A and A.T Watson-Crick base pairs, it is expected that the pairing interactions will be disrupted upon 1-methylation. In this study, high-resolution NMR investigations were performed to determine the effect of m1A on double-helical DNA structures. Interestingly, instead of disrupting hydrogen bonding, we found that 1-methylation altered the T.A Watson-Crick base pair to T(anti).m1A(syn) Hoogsteen base pair, providing insights into the observed differences in AlkB-repair efficiency between dsDNA and ssDNA.

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