Hydration effects in binding of aminoglycosides to short hairpin RNA as determined by osmotic stress

CHED 406

Eriks Rozners, e.rozners@neu.edu1, Nick Yankauskas, yankauskas.n@neu.edu2, and Robin Ortiz2. (1) Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave, Hurtig Hall, Boston, MA 02115, (2) Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave. 102HT, Boston, MA 021115
Understanding subtle structural changes upon amino glycoside binding to RNA can lead to a better understanding of RNA structure and function and may facilitate design of novel antibiotics. We used UV melting and osmotic stress to study hydration changes associated with the aminoglycoside-RNA interactions. Our results show that overall the hydration changes are relatively small, which fits with the general notion that nature has optimized hydration to facilitate biological processes in aqueous media.
 

Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Organic Chemistry
11:00 AM-1:00 PM, Monday, 27 March 2006 Georgia World Congress Center -- Ex. Hall B4, Poster

Division of Chemical Education

The 231st ACS National Meeting, Atlanta, GA, March 26-30, 2006