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. 1978 Feb;75(2):828–832. doi: 10.1073/pnas.75.2.828

Drug-nucleic acid interactions: conformational flexibility at the intercalation site.

H M Berman, S Neidle, R K Stodola
PMCID: PMC411350  PMID: 273246

Abstract

The conformational features of the intercalation site in polynucleotides were examined. We found that, for all the crystal structures of drug-dinucleoside complexes studied thus far, two torsion angles differ from those found in A RNA (phi and chi) and that alternate sugar puckering is not a prerequisite for intercalation. This intercalation geometry, which is the basis of helix axis displacement in a polymer, would necessitate conformational changes in the adjacent nucleotides. The base-turn angle is less sensitive to the conformation of the backbone than it is to small alterations in the base-pairing geometry. We postulate that this angle is dependent on the nature of the intercalating drug.

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Selected References

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

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