Skip to main content
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1983 Apr;80(7):1821–1825. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.7.1821

The sequence (dC-dA)n X (dG-dT)n forms left-handed Z-DNA in negatively supercoiled plasmids.

A Nordheim, A Rich
PMCID: PMC393701  PMID: 6572943

Abstract

Z-DNA-specific antibodies have been used to demonstrate the formation of left-handed Z-DNA in sequences of (dC-dA)32 X (dG-dT)32 in negatively supercoiled plasmids. Z-DNA was found to form at physiological negative superhelical densities (sigma = -0.05) in the absence of high salt concentration or chemical modifications. The binding site of the antibody to the DNA sequences was demonstrated by crosslinking experiments. (dC-dA)n X (dG-dT)n sequences are widespread in eukaryotic DNA, and possible roles for such Z elements in chromatin activation or genome rearrangements are suggested.

Full text

PDF
1821

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Arnott S., Chandrasekaran R., Birdsall D. L., Leslie A. G., Ratliff R. L. Left-handed DNA helices. Nature. 1980 Feb 21;283(5749):743–745. doi: 10.1038/283743a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bauer W. R. Structure and reactions of closed duplex DNA. Annu Rev Biophys Bioeng. 1978;7:287–313. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bb.07.060178.001443. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Behe M., Felsenfeld G. Effects of methylation on a synthetic polynucleotide: the B--Z transition in poly(dG-m5dC).poly(dG-m5dC). Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Mar;78(3):1619–1623. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.3.1619. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Grindley N. D., Lauth M. R., Wells R. G., Wityk R. J., Salvo J. J., Reed R. R. Transposon-mediated site-specific recombination: identification of three binding sites for resolvase at the res sites of gamma delta and Tn3. Cell. 1982 Aug;30(1):19–27. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(82)90007-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hamada H., Kakunaga T. Potential Z-DNA forming sequences are highly dispersed in the human genome. Nature. 1982 Jul 22;298(5872):396–398. doi: 10.1038/298396a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hamada H., Petrino M. G., Kakunaga T. A novel repeated element with Z-DNA-forming potential is widely found in evolutionarily diverse eukaryotic genomes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Nov;79(21):6465–6469. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.21.6465. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Keller W. Determination of the number of superhelical turns in simian virus 40 DNA by gel electrophoresis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1975 Dec;72(12):4876–4880. doi: 10.1073/pnas.72.12.4876. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Kim S., Davis M., Sinn E., Patten P., Hood L. Antibody diversity: somatic hypermutation of rearranged VH genes. Cell. 1981 Dec;27(3 Pt 2):573–581. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90399-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Lafer E. M., Möller A., Nordheim A., Stollar B. D., Rich A. Antibodies specific for left-handed Z-DNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Jun;78(6):3546–3550. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.6.3546. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Liu C. P., Tucker P. W., Mushinski J. F., Blattner F. R. Mapping of heavy chain genes for mouse immunoglobulins M and D. Science. 1980 Sep 19;209(4463):1348–1353. doi: 10.1126/science.6774414. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Miesfeld R., Krystal M., Arnheim N. A member of a new repeated sequence family which is conserved throughout eucaryotic evolution is found between the human delta and beta globin genes. Nucleic Acids Res. 1981 Nov 25;9(22):5931–5947. doi: 10.1093/nar/9.22.5931. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Möller A., Gabriels J. E., Lafer E. M., Nordheim A., Rich A., Stollar B. D. Monoclonal antibodies recognize different parts of Z-DNA. J Biol Chem. 1982 Oct 25;257(20):12081–12085. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Nishioka Y., Leder P. Organization and complete sequence of identical embryonic and plasmacytoma kappa V-region genes. J Biol Chem. 1980 Apr 25;255(8):3691–3694. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Nordheim A., Lafer E. M., Peck L. J., Wang J. C., Stollar B. D., Rich A. Negatively supercoiled plasmids contain left-handed Z-DNA segments as detected by specific antibody binding. Cell. 1982 Dec;31(2 Pt 1):309–318. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(82)90124-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Nordheim A., Pardue M. L., Lafer E. M., Möller A., Stollar B. D., Rich A. Antibodies to left-handed Z-DNA bind to interband regions of Drosophila polytene chromosomes. Nature. 1981 Dec 3;294(5840):417–422. doi: 10.1038/294417a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Nordheim A., Tesser P., Azorin F., Kwon Y. H., Möller A., Rich A. Isolation of Drosophila proteins that bind selectively to left-handed Z-DNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Dec;79(24):7729–7733. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.24.7729. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Paulson J. R., Laemmli U. K. The structure of histone-depleted metaphase chromosomes. Cell. 1977 Nov;12(3):817–828. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(77)90280-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Peck L. J., Nordheim A., Rich A., Wang J. C. Flipping of cloned d(pCpG)n.d(pCpG)n DNA sequences from right- to left-handed helical structure by salt, Co(III), or negative supercoiling. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Aug;79(15):4560–4564. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.15.4560. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Pohl F. M., Jovin T. M. Salt-induced co-operative conformational change of a synthetic DNA: equilibrium and kinetic studies with poly (dG-dC). J Mol Biol. 1972 Jun 28;67(3):375–396. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(72)90457-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Proudfoot N. J., Maniatis T. The structure of a human alpha-globin pseudogene and its relationship to alpha-globin gene duplication. Cell. 1980 Sep;21(2):537–544. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90491-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Sakano H., Maki R., Kurosawa Y., Roeder W., Tonegawa S. Two types of somatic recombination are necessary for the generation of complete immunoglobulin heavy-chain genes. Nature. 1980 Aug 14;286(5774):676–683. doi: 10.1038/286676a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Singleton C. K., Klysik J., Stirdivant S. M., Wells R. D. Left-handed Z-DNA is induced by supercoiling in physiological ionic conditions. Nature. 1982 Sep 23;299(5881):312–316. doi: 10.1038/299312a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Slightom J. L., Blechl A. E., Smithies O. Human fetal G gamma- and A gamma-globin genes: complete nucleotide sequences suggest that DNA can be exchanged between these duplicated genes. Cell. 1980 Oct;21(3):627–638. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90426-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Stringer J. R. DNA sequence homology and chromosomal deletion at a site of SV40 DNA integration. Nature. 1982 Mar 25;296(5855):363–366. doi: 10.1038/296363a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Thamann T. J., Lord R. C., Wang A. H., Rich A. The high salt form of poly(dG-dC).poly(dG-dC) is left-handed Z-DNA: Raman spectra of crystals and solutions. Nucleic Acids Res. 1981 Oct 24;9(20):5443–5457. doi: 10.1093/nar/9.20.5443. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Vorlíckovă M., Kypr J., Stokrová S., Sponar J. A Z-like form of poly(dA-dC).poly(dG-dT) in solution? Nucleic Acids Res. 1982 Feb 11;10(3):1071–1080. doi: 10.1093/nar/10.3.1071. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Wang A. H., Quigley G. J., Kolpak F. J., Crawford J. L., van Boom J. H., van der Marel G., Rich A. Molecular structure of a left-handed double helical DNA fragment at atomic resolution. Nature. 1979 Dec 13;282(5740):680–686. doi: 10.1038/282680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Wells R. D., Miglietta J. J., Kłysik J., Larson J. E., Stirdivant S. M., Zacharias W. Spectroscopic studies on acetylaminofluorene-modified (dT-dG)n . (dC-dA)n suggest a left-handed conformation. J Biol Chem. 1982 Sep 10;257(17):10166–10171. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Zimmer C., Tymen S., Marck C., Guschlbauer W. Conformational transitions of poly(dA-dC).poly(dG-dT) induced by high salt or in ethanolic solution. Nucleic Acids Res. 1982 Feb 11;10(3):1081–1091. doi: 10.1093/nar/10.3.1081. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES