Abstract
Pressure is a thermodynamic parameter that can induce structural changes in biomolecules due to a volumetric decrease. Although most proteins are denatured by pressure over 100 MPa because they have the large cavities inside their structures, the double-stranded structure of DNA is stabilized or destabilized only marginally depending on the sequence and salt conditions. The thermal stability of the G-quadruplex DNA structure, an important non-canonical structure that likely impacts gene expression in cells, remarkably decreases with increasing pressure. Volumetric analysis revealed that human telomeric DNA changed by more than 50 cm3 mol-1 during the transition from a random coil to a quadruplex form. This value is approximately ten times larger than that for duplex DNA under similar conditions. The volumetric analysis also suggested that the formation of G-quadruplex DNA involves significant hydration changes. The presence of a cosolute such as poly(ethylene glycol) largely repressed the pressure effect on the stability of G-quadruplex due to alteration in stabilities of the interactions with hydrating water. This review discusses the importance of local perturbations of pressure on DNA structures involved in regulation of gene expression and highlights the potential for application of high-pressure chemistry in nucleic acid-based nanotechnology.