What is minor groove binding?

Minor Groove Binders or MGBs are crescent-shaped molecules that selectively bind non-covalently to the minor groove of DNA, a shallow furrow in the DNA helix. Binding to DNA with specific sequences usually takes place by a combination of directed hydrogen bonding to base pair edges.

What are small molecules of DNA called?

At the most basic level, all DNA is composed of a series of smaller molecules called nucleotides.

What are major and minor grooves of DNA?

The major groove occurs where the backbones are far apart, the minor groove occurs where they are close together. The grooves twist around the molecule on opposite sides. Certain proteins bind to DNA to alter its structure or to regulate transcription (copying DNA to RNA) or replication (copying DNA to DNA).

Why is the minor groove important?

These grooves allow proteins to bind to and recognize DNA sequences from the outside of the helix. The grooves expose the edges of each base pair located inside the helix, which allows proteins to chemically recognize specific DNA sequences.

What is meant by small molecule?

Within the fields of molecular biology and pharmacology, a small molecule is a low molecular weight (< 900 daltons) organic compound that may regulate a biological process, with a size on the order of 1 nm. Many drugs are small molecules.

What are small molecules called?

Monomers
Monomers are atoms or small molecules that bond together to form more complex structures such as polymers. There are four main types of monomer, including sugars, amino acids, fatty acids, and nucleotides.

What are DNA grooves?

Why are grooves formed in DNA?

The major and minor (19 kb gif) groove arise because of the orientation of the base pairs across the helix. The grooves separate the two sugar-phosphate backbones from each other and the atoms exposed in the grooves are accessible to the solvent and to interactions with proteins.

What is DNA groove?

Two grooves that run the length of the DNA double helix. Each groove is lined by potential hydrogen-bond donor and acceptor atoms, and these interact with DNA-binding proteins that recognize specific DNA sequences.

Why does DNA have both a major and minor groove and not two equal grooves?

The two sugar-phosphate backbones of the double helix are not equally spaced from one another along the helical axis. This unequal spacing results in grooves of unequal size between the backbones; one groove is called the major (wider) groove, the other the minor (narrower) groove.

What is the difference between major groove and minor groove in DNA?

Due to the great differences in dimensions of the two grooves, targeting them requires vastly different shaped molecules. The major groove, as the name implies, is much wider than the minor groove; the groove width values for averaged-sequence B-form DNA are 11.6 and 6.0 A, respectively [51].

Why do minor groove binders target the DNA of competing organisms?

It has been speculated that the evolution of antibiotic minor groove binders that target the DNA of competing organisms is related to the more attractive dimensions of the minor groove for small molecules [58]. Minor groove binding usually involves greater binding affinity and higher sequence specificity than that of intercalator binding.

What are the dicationic minor groove binders?

The more intensely studied dicationic minor groove binders include the natural product netropsin and the synthetic molecules DAP1, berenil, and pentamidine (Fig. 16.2) Was this article helpful?

What is the difference between intercalator binding and minor groove binding?

Minor groove binding usually involves greater binding affinity and higher sequence specificity than that of intercalator binding. Minor groove binding has been demonstrated for neutral, mono-charged, and multicharged ligands.