Ld. Higgins et Ms. Searle, Site-specificity of bis-benzimidazole Hoechst 33258 in A-tract recognitionof the DNA dodecamer duplex d(GCAAAATTTTGC)(2), CHEM COMMUN, (18), 1999, pp. 1861-1862
Fluorescence titration measurements and NMR spectroscopy have identified a
single molecule of Hoechst 33258 bound within the long A-tract of the dodec
amer duplex d(GCAAAATTTTGC)(2): despite the possibility of multiple binding
sites, and the apparent requirement from previous studies for the drug N-m
ethylpiperazine ring to bind close to GC base pairs at the end of an A-trac
t (leading to an off-set asymmetric complex with this sequence), we identif
y a binding site that spans the central AAATTT sequence with the planar aro
matic rings of the drug binding in the narrowest part of the minor groove.