Left-handed DNA in restriction fragments and a recombinant plasmid.

Circular dichroism and 31P-NMR on synthetic oligomers of (dC-dG) inserted within DNA restriction fragments indicate that the right-handed B-structure can exist in close proximity to the left-handed Z-structure. Also, this salt-induced transition to Z-form in a small (dC-dG) segment (1.3%) of a recombinant plasmid markedly influenced the supercoil of the plasmid. These observations have implications for the postulated role of naturally occurring related simple sequences in the regulation of gene activity.