Right-handed Helices
A-DNA
A-form DNA was first identified from fibre-diffraction
studies of DNA at ‘low’ (75%) relative humidity. More
recently, crystal studies have identified specific sequences
which can adopt A-DNA type of structures (Figure 1b). In
general, A-DNA for any sequence is favoured under
dehydrating conditions, and certain purine stretches will
favour an A-conformation, even in cases of higher
hydration levels. It appears that at least four purines (or
pyrimidines) in a row are enough to set up a local A-DNA
helix, although of course certain purine stretches are more
likely to form A-DNA than others. (For example, the
sequence AAAA crystallizes as B-DNA, not in the Ahelix.)
It is thus possible to have a DNA sequence that
contains some regions in the A-form within the context of a
mainly B-conformation.
Some of the helical parameters of A-DNA are given in
Table 2. The A-DNA helix is a bit wider than B-DNA (and
also Z-DNA), and this is mainly due to the fact that the
base pairs stack nearly on top of each other in B-DNA, but
stack a little off-centre in the A-conformation. Notice in
Figure 1b that, if you look down the helix, there is a hole in
the A-conformation, which is absent in the two other
DNA Structure: A-, B- and Z-DNA Helix Families
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE SCIENCES / & 2002 Macmillan Publishers Ltd, Nature Publishing Group / www.els.net 5
helical conformations. As might be expected, this results in
the A-DNA helix being less stable than the B-DNA
conformation. A-DNA is also more rigid than B-DNA,
again because the off-centre stacking of the bases makes
them less flexible. There are about 11 bp per turn for ADNA,
compared with about 10 bp per turn for the B-form.
Finally, the base-pair tilt is higher in A-DNA than in BDNA.
An A-helix is the common form for DNA–RNA
hybrids, as well as double-stranded RNA; this is due to the
extra OH group on the ribose sugar, which cannot fit easily
into the tight space allotted to it in B-DNA.