Sequence specificity of curved DNA.

Anomalously slow migration of DNA fragments on polyacrylamide gels is interpreted as resulting from curvature of the DNA fragment. Different models have been suggested to explain DNA curvature. In this work a number of DNA fragments were synthesized, cloned, and electrophoretically characterized to distinguish between these models. Strong anomaly of migration is found for sequence stretches (dA)n repeated in phase with the helix turn with n at least 4. For n smaller than 4 only negligible anomaly is observed. The results contradict the purine-clash hypothesis. The data can be explained by assuming longer stretches of As to be in a B'-form, and that tilt of this structure might be the reason for its curvature.