No abstract

Thermodynamic studies on the interactions between intercalator-neomycin conjugates and a DNA polynucleotide triplex [poly(dA)•2poly(dT)] were conducted. To draw a complete picture of such interactions, naphthalenedimide-neomycin (3) and anthraquinone-neomycin (4) were synthesized and used together with two other analogues, previously synthesized pyrene-neomycin (1) and BQQ-neomycin (2), in our investigations. A combination of experiments including UV denaturation, circular dichroism (CD) titration, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) revealed that all four conjugates (1–4) stabilized poly(dA)•2poly(dT) much greater than its parent compound, neomycin. UV melting experiments clearly showed that the temperature (Tm3→2) at which poly(dA)•2poly(dT) dissociated into poly(dA)•poly(dT) and poly(dT) increased dramatically (> 12 °C) in the presence of intercalator-neomycin (1–4) even at a very low concentration (2 µM). In contrast to intercalator-neomycin conjugates, the increment of Tm3→2 of poly(dA)•2poly(dT) induced by neomycin was negligible under the same conditions. The binding preference of intercalator-neomycin (1–4) to poly(dA)•2poly(dT) was also confirmed by competition dialysis and fluorescent intercalator displacement assay. Circular dichroism titration studies revealed that compound 1–4 had slightly larger binding site size (~7–7.5) with poly(dA)•2poly(dT) as compared to neomycin (~6.5). The thermodynamic parameters of these intercalator-neomycin conjugates with poly(dA)•2poly(dT) were derived from an integrated van’t Hoff equation using the Tm3→2 values, the binding site size numbers, and other parameters obtained from DSC and ITC. The binding affinity of all tested ligands with poly(dA)•2poly(dT) increased in the order neomycin < 1 < 3 < 4 < 2. Amongst them, the binding constant [(2.7 ± 0.3) × 108 M−1] of 2 with poly(dA)•2poly(dT) was the highest, almost 1000 fold more than that of neomycin. The binding of compounds 1–4 with poly(dA)•2poly(dT) was mostly enthalpy—driven and gave negative ΔCp values. The results described here suggest that the binding affinity of intercalator-neomycin conjugates to poly(dA)•2poly(dT) increases as a function of the surface area of the intercalator moiety.

Recognition of nucleic acids is important for our understanding of nucleic acid structure as well as for our understanding of nucleic acid-protein interactions. In addition to the direct readout mechanisms of nucleic acids such as H-bonding, shape recognition of nucleic acids is being increasingly recognized to play an equally important role in DNA recognition. Competition Dialysis, UV, Flourescent Intercalator displacement (FID), Computational Docking, and calorimetry studies were conducted to study the interaction of neomycin with a variety of nucleic acid conformations (shapes). At pH 5.5, these results suggest: (1) Neomycin binds three RNA structures (16S A site rRNA, poly(rA)•poly(rA), and poly(rA)•poly(rU)) with high affinities, Ka~107M−1. (2) The binding of neomycin to A-form GC-rich oligomer d(A2G15C15T2)2 has comparable affinity to RNA structures. (3) The binding of neomycin to DNA•RNA hybrids shows a three-fold variance attributable to their structural differences (poly(dA) •poly(rU), Ka=9.4×106M−1 and poly(rA)•poly(dT), Ka=3.1×106M−1). (4) The interaction of neomycin with DNA triplex poly(dA)•2poly(dT) yields a binding affinity of Ka=2.4×105M−1. (5) Poly(dA-dT)2 showed the lowest association constant for all nucleic acids studied (Ka=<105). (6) Neomycin binds to G-quadruplexes with Ka~104-105M−1. (7) Computational studies show that the decrease in major groove width in the B to A transition correlates with increasing neomycin affinity. Neomycin’s affinity for various nucleic acid structures can be ranked as follows, RNAs and GC-rich d(A2G15C15T2)2 structures > poly(dA)•poly(rU) > poly(rA)•poly(dT) > T•A-T triplex , G-quadruplexes, B-form AT-rich or GC-rich DNA sequences. The results illustrate the first example of a small molecule based ‘shape readout’ of different nucleic acid conformations.

Edited by Hans EklundKeywords: RNA recognition Aminoglycoside Neomycin Poly(A) DNA RNA a b s t r a c t Poly(A) is a relevant sequence in cell biology due to its importance in mRNA stability and translation initiation. Neomycin is an aminoglycoside antibiotic that is well known for its ability to target various nucleic acid structures. Here it is reported that neomycin is capable of binding tightly to a single-stranded oligonucleotide (A 30 ) with a K d in the micromolar range. CD melting experiments support complex formation and indicate a melting temperature of 47°C. The poly(A) duplex, which melts at 44°C (pH 5.5), was observed to melt at 61°C in the presence of neomycin, suggesting a strong stabilization of the duplex by the neomycin.

The synthesis of neomycin covalently attached at the C5-position of 2'-deoxyuridine is reported. The synthesis outlined allows for incorporation of an aminoglycoside (neomycin) at any given site in an oligonucleotide (ODN) where a thymidine (or uridine) is present. Incorporation of this modified base into an oligonucleotide, which is complementary to a seven-bases-long alpha-sarcin loop RNA sequence, leads to enhanced duplex hybridization. The increase in Tm for this duplex (DeltaTm = 6 degrees C) suggests a favorable interaction of neomycin within the duplex groove. CD spectroscopy shows that the modified duplex adopts an A-type confirmation. ITC measurements indicate the additive effects of ODN and neomycin binding to the RNA target (Ka = 4.5 x 107 M-1). The enhanced stability of the hybrid duplex from this neomycin-ODN conjugate originates primarily from the enthalpic contribution of neomycin {DeltaDeltaHobs = -7.21 kcal/mol (DeltaHneomycin conjugated - DeltaH nonconjugated)} binding to the hybrid duplex. The short linker length allows for selective stabilization of the hybrid duplex over the hybrid triplex. The results described here open up new avenues in the design and synthesis of nucleo-aminoglycoside-conjugates (N-Ag-C) where the inclusion of any number of aminoglycoside (neomycin) molecules per oligonucleotide can be accomplished.