Uracil DNA glycosylase plays a key role in DNA maintenance via base excision repair. Its role is to bind to DNA, locate unwanted uracil, and remove it using a base flipping mechanism. To date, kinetic analysis of this complex process has been achieved using stopped-flow analysis but, due to limitations in instrumental dead-times, discrimination of the "binding" and "base flipping" steps is compromised. Herein we present a novel approach for analyzing base flipping using a microfluidic mixer and two-color two-photon (2c2p) fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM). We demonstrate that 2c2p FLIM can simultaneously monitor binding and base flipping kinetics within the continuous flow microfluidic mixer, with results showing good agreement with computational fluid dynamics simulations.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ac502732s | DOI Listing |
Nat Commun
January 2025
Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, 111 T. W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709, USA.
Coronaviruses evade detection by the host immune system with the help of the endoribonuclease Nsp15, which regulates levels of viral double stranded RNA by cleaving 3' of uridine (U). While prior structural data shows that to cleave double stranded RNA, Nsp15's target U must be flipped out of the helix, it is not yet understood whether Nsp15 initiates flipping or captures spontaneously flipped bases. We address this gap by designing fluorinated double stranded RNA substrates that allow us to directly relate a U's sequence context to both its tendency to spontaneously flip and its susceptibility to cleavage by Nsp15.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFbioRxiv
December 2024
Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM.
DNA breathing dynamics-transient base-pair opening and closing due to thermal fluctuations-are vital for processes like transcription, replication, and repair. Traditional models, such as the Extended Peyrard-Bishop-Dauxois (EPBD), provide insights into these dynamics but are computationally limited for long sequences. We present , a high-throughput Langevin molecular dynamics framework leveraging JAX for GPU-accelerated simulations, achieving up to 30x speedup and superior scalability compared to the original C-based EPBD implementation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNucleic Acids Res
December 2024
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
RNA-guided endonucleases are involved in processes ranging from adaptive immunity to site-specific transposition and have revolutionized genome editing. CRISPR-Cas9, -Cas12 and related proteins use guide RNAs to recognize ∼20-nucleotide target sites within genomic DNA by mechanisms that are not yet fully understood. We used structural and biochemical methods to assess early steps in DNA recognition by Cas12a protein-guide RNA complexes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Commun
December 2024
Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada.
BMC Med Educ
November 2024
Division of Stroke and Neurocritical Care, Department of Neurology, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 125 Paterson Street, Suite 6200, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA.
Objective: There is conflicting evidence whether decreased clerkship duration is associated with reduced NBME shelf examination performance. We hypothesized that scores would remain stable for students in a shortened 2-week flipped classroom-based virtual rotation as compared to the traditional 4-week Neurology clerkship.
Background: There is conflicting evidence whether decreased clerkship duration is associated with reduced NBME shelf examination performance.
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