CONFORMATIONAL FEASIBILITY OF A HAIRPIN WITH 2 PURINES IN THE LOOP - 5'-D-GGTACIAGTACC-3'

Structural feasibility and conformational requirements for the sequence 5'-d-GGTACIAGTACC-3' to adopt a hairpin loop with 16 and A7 in the loop are studied. It is shown that a hairpin loop containing only two nucleotides can readily be formed without any unusual torsional angles. Stacking is continued on the 5'-side of the loop, with the 16 stacked upon C5. The base A7, on the 3'-side of the loop, can either be partially stacked with 16 or stick outside without stacking. Loop closure can be achieved for both syn and anti conformations of the glycosidic torsions for G8 while maintaining the normal Watson-Crick base pairing with the opposite C5. All torsional angles in the stem fall within the standard B-family of DNA helical structures. The phosphodiesters of the loop have trans, trans conformations. Loop formation might require the torsion about the C4'-C5' bond of G8 to be trans as opposed to the gauche+ observed in B-DNA. These results are discussed in relation to melting temperature studies [Howard et al. (1991) Biochemistry (preceding paper in this issue)] that suggest the formation of very stable hairpin structures for this sequence.