DNA-Based Nanostructures: Changes of Mechanical Properties of DNA upon Ligand Binding

The formation of DNA-based nanostructures involves the binding of different kinds of ligands to DNA as well as the interaction of DNA molecules with each other. Complex formation between ligand and DNA can alter physicochemical properties of the DNA molecule. In the present work, the accessibility of DNA-ligand complexes to cleavage by DNase I are considered, and the exact algorithms for analysis of diagrams of DNase I footprinting for ligand-DNA complexes are obtained. Changes of mechanical properties of the DNA upon ligand binding are also demonstrated by the cleavage patterns generated upon ultrasound irradiation of cis-platin-DNA complexes. Propagation of the mechanical perturbations along DNA in the presence of bound ligands is considered in terms of a string model with a heterogeneity corresponding to the position of a bound ligand on DNA. This model can reproduce qualitatively the cleavage patterns obtained upon ultrasound irradiation of cis-platin-DNA complexes.