i-Motif is formed from two parallel duplexes by intercalating with each other in an antiparallel orientation and each duplex is held together-via-hemiprotonated cytosine+-cytosine base pairs.However,a cell is crowded with various biomolecules and little is known about the properties of i-Motif under molecular crowding conditions until now.In the present study,we used human telomeric DNA sequence,[C3TA23C3,as a model system to investigate such problem by circular dichroism(CD) and UV absorbance spectroscopy.Based on the CD spectra,we found that there were no changes about the structure of i-Motif in the presence of polyethylene glycol(PEG).CD melting results showed that the thermal stability of i-Motif was increased under molecular crowding conditions compare to that in dilute buffer,which was further demonstrated by UV-melting results.This work suggests that molecular crowding could not affect the structure of i-Motif,which may depend on pH,while could enhance the thermal stability of i-Motif.
The alkali-hydrolysis of D-glucono-delta-lactone (GDL) was investigated by chiral Raman and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopies in combination with density functional theory calculation. Based on the characteristic CD bands of GDL and its hydrolysis product, the dynamics of hydrolysis was studied using stopped-flow CD method. Using chiral Raman spectroscopy (CRS), the stereochemical change of GDL owing to the hydrolysis reaction was discussed on the vibrational scale. The CRS results show that the ring-opening due to hydrolysis has a great influence on the chiral structure around the car-bonyl group, which was evidenced by the disappearance of the CRS band at 1735 cm-1 (C== O stretching vibrational mode). In addition, the change of positions and intensity of CRS bands was also observed, which was ascribed to the perturbation around the C2, C3, C4 and C5 carbons due to ring-opening. It is worthy to note that the stereochemistry of C2, C3, C4 and C5 had no fundamental change during the hydrolysis reaction, which was reflected in the maintenance of the signs of the CRS bands. Our results demonstrate that in comparison with CD technique, CRS may provide more detailed structural information of chiral molecules and open up new vistas of research for chiral reactions.
JIA GuoQingQIU ShiLI GuanNaZHOU JunFENG ZhaoChiLI Can
