Observation of coherent delocalized phonon-like modes in DNA under physiological conditions

Underdamped terahertz-frequency delocalized phonon-like modes have long been suggested to play a role in the biological function of DNA. Such phonon modes involve the collective motion of many atoms and are prerequisite to understanding the molecular nature of macroscopic conformational changes and...

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Main Authors:	González-Jiménez, Mario, Ramakrishnan, Gopakumar, Harwood, Thomas, Lapthorn, Adrian J., Kelly, Sharon M., Ellis, Elizabeth M., Wynne, Klaas
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Nature Publishing Group 2016
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4895446/

id	pubmed-4895446
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-48954462016-06-21 Observation of coherent delocalized phonon-like modes in DNA under physiological conditions González-Jiménez, Mario Ramakrishnan, Gopakumar Harwood, Thomas Lapthorn, Adrian J. Kelly, Sharon M. Ellis, Elizabeth M. Wynne, Klaas Article Underdamped terahertz-frequency delocalized phonon-like modes have long been suggested to play a role in the biological function of DNA. Such phonon modes involve the collective motion of many atoms and are prerequisite to understanding the molecular nature of macroscopic conformational changes and related biochemical phenomena. Initial predictions were based on simple theoretical models of DNA. However, such models do not take into account strong interactions with the surrounding water, which is likely to cause phonon modes to be heavily damped and localized. Here we apply state-of-the-art femtosecond optical Kerr effect spectroscopy, which is currently the only technique capable of taking low-frequency (GHz to THz) vibrational spectra in solution. We are able to demonstrate that phonon modes involving the hydrogen bond network between the strands exist in DNA at physiologically relevant conditions. In addition, the dynamics of the solvating water molecules is slowed down by about a factor of 20 compared with the bulk. Nature Publishing Group 2016-06-01 /pmc/articles/PMC4895446/ /pubmed/27248361 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11799 Text en Copyright © 2016, Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited. All Rights Reserved. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	González-Jiménez, Mario Ramakrishnan, Gopakumar Harwood, Thomas Lapthorn, Adrian J. Kelly, Sharon M. Ellis, Elizabeth M. Wynne, Klaas
spellingShingle	González-Jiménez, Mario Ramakrishnan, Gopakumar Harwood, Thomas Lapthorn, Adrian J. Kelly, Sharon M. Ellis, Elizabeth M. Wynne, Klaas Observation of coherent delocalized phonon-like modes in DNA under physiological conditions
author_facet	González-Jiménez, Mario Ramakrishnan, Gopakumar Harwood, Thomas Lapthorn, Adrian J. Kelly, Sharon M. Ellis, Elizabeth M. Wynne, Klaas
author_sort	González-Jiménez, Mario
title	Observation of coherent delocalized phonon-like modes in DNA under physiological conditions
title_short	Observation of coherent delocalized phonon-like modes in DNA under physiological conditions
title_full	Observation of coherent delocalized phonon-like modes in DNA under physiological conditions
title_fullStr	Observation of coherent delocalized phonon-like modes in DNA under physiological conditions
title_full_unstemmed	Observation of coherent delocalized phonon-like modes in DNA under physiological conditions
title_sort	observation of coherent delocalized phonon-like modes in dna under physiological conditions
description	Underdamped terahertz-frequency delocalized phonon-like modes have long been suggested to play a role in the biological function of DNA. Such phonon modes involve the collective motion of many atoms and are prerequisite to understanding the molecular nature of macroscopic conformational changes and related biochemical phenomena. Initial predictions were based on simple theoretical models of DNA. However, such models do not take into account strong interactions with the surrounding water, which is likely to cause phonon modes to be heavily damped and localized. Here we apply state-of-the-art femtosecond optical Kerr effect spectroscopy, which is currently the only technique capable of taking low-frequency (GHz to THz) vibrational spectra in solution. We are able to demonstrate that phonon modes involving the hydrogen bond network between the strands exist in DNA at physiologically relevant conditions. In addition, the dynamics of the solvating water molecules is slowed down by about a factor of 20 compared with the bulk.
publisher	Nature Publishing Group
publishDate	2016
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4895446/
_version_	1613589822000070656

Observation of coherent delocalized phonon-like modes in DNA under physiological conditions

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