2024
Beyond the “spine of hydration”: Chiral SFG spectroscopy detects DNA first hydration shell and base pair structures
Perets E, Konstantinovsky D, Santiago T, Videla P, Tremblay M, Velarde L, Batista V, Hammes-Schiffer S, Yan E. Beyond the “spine of hydration”: Chiral SFG spectroscopy detects DNA first hydration shell and base pair structures. The Journal Of Chemical Physics 2024, 161: 095104. PMID: 39230381, PMCID: PMC11377083, DOI: 10.1063/5.0220479.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsChiral SFG spectraProbe water moleculeWater moleculesChiral SFG spectroscopyHydration shellSFG spectraMinor grooveSFG spectroscopyHydration shell water moleculesWater structureO-H stretching of waterSum frequency generation spectroscopyShell water moleculesPhosphate backboneN-H stretchingO-H stretchingDNA base pairsDNA minor grooveSpine of hydrationSpectra of DNAN-HVibrational spectroscopyO-HSFG responseSFG signal
2022
Structural Basis for Reduced Dynamics of Three Engineered HNH Endonuclease Lys-to-Ala Mutants for the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat (CRISPR)-Associated 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) Enzyme
Wang J, Skeens E, Arantes PR, Maschietto F, Allen B, Kyro GW, Lisi GP, Palermo G, Batista VS. Structural Basis for Reduced Dynamics of Three Engineered HNH Endonuclease Lys-to-Ala Mutants for the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat (CRISPR)-Associated 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) Enzyme. Biochemistry 2022, 61: 785-794. PMID: 35420793, PMCID: PMC9069930, DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.2c00127.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsShort palindromic repeatsSubstrate specificityPalindromic repeatsAla mutantWT enzymeRNA-binding domainAssociated 9 (Cas9) systemForeign DNA sequencesDNA strandsWild-type enzymeDouble-strand breaksEnhanced substrate specificityHNH active siteDynamics of proteinsType II immunityCas9 proteinDNA substratesDNA sequencesStructural basisMutantsAla substitutionDistinct conformationsSingle LysCatalytic siteEnzyme