EXAFS ANALYSIS OF METAL-NUCLEIC ACID COMPLEXES

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. This proposal explores the application of EXAFS to elucidating metal-ion binding sites in nucleic acid-metal complexes. DNA quadruplexes, ribozymes and deoxyribozymes are examples of the metal-nucleic complexes to be considered in this project. Metals to be examined include K+, Pb+2 and Sr+2. Our preliminary results obtained on a Pb+2-DNA quadruplex are very promising and indicate the potential utility of EXAFS in this area of structural biology. There has been very little work to date applying EXAFS to nucleic acids and our studies should help establish this method as an important structural tool.