Major
Neuroscience
Anticipated Graduation Year
2020
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
Numerous genetic disorders arise from the propensity of certain repetitive DNA sequences to form non-helical structures due to extensive self-complementarity; their formation occurs within crowded cellular conditions. Using single-molecule FRET microscopy, the effect of molecular crowding on the stability and dynamics of DNA hairpins containing trinucleotide repeat sequences (CAG)5 and (CTG)5 were explored in the presence of crowding agents. These induce a greater acceleration of hairpin melting and overall destabilization, contrasting observations from fully paired DNA controls. The findings indicate that molecular crowding may confer some protective benefit to genomic DNA by disrupting these deleterious structures at smaller repeat sizes.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Brian Cannon, Ph.D, Department of Physics
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Molecular Crowding Effects on Stability and Kinetics of Trinucleotide Repeat Hairpins
Numerous genetic disorders arise from the propensity of certain repetitive DNA sequences to form non-helical structures due to extensive self-complementarity; their formation occurs within crowded cellular conditions. Using single-molecule FRET microscopy, the effect of molecular crowding on the stability and dynamics of DNA hairpins containing trinucleotide repeat sequences (CAG)5 and (CTG)5 were explored in the presence of crowding agents. These induce a greater acceleration of hairpin melting and overall destabilization, contrasting observations from fully paired DNA controls. The findings indicate that molecular crowding may confer some protective benefit to genomic DNA by disrupting these deleterious structures at smaller repeat sizes.