Evidence from CD spectra that d(purine).r(pyrimidine) and r(purine).d(pyrimidine) hybrids are in different structural classes.

CD spectra and difference CD spectra of four d(oligopurine).r(oligopyrimidine) and four r(oligopurine).d(oligopyrimidine) hybrid duplexes containing mixed A.T(U) and G.C base pairs were compared with the spectra of four DNA.DNA and four RNA.RNA oligomer duplexes of similar repeating sequences. The 16 duplexes were formed by mixing oligomers that were 24 nucleotides long. The buffer was 0.05 M Na+ (phosphate), pH 7.0. DNA.DNA and RNA.RNA oligomer duplexes were used as reference B-form and A-form structures. We found that the CD spectra of d(purine).r(pyrimidine) and r(purine).d(pyrimidine) hybrid duplexes were different from the CD spectra of either DNA.DNA or RNA.RNA duplexes. The data suggested that these hybrids have intermediate structures between A-form RNA and B-form DNA structures. The CD spectra of d(purine).r(pyrimidine) and r(purine).d(pyrimidine) hybrid duplexes were different from each other, but the hybrids in each class had consistent CD spectra as indicated by nearest-neighbor comparisons. Thus, it appeared that the two types of hybrids belonged to different structural classes. The negative 210 nm band found in difference CD spectra was correlated with the presence of an r(purine) strand in the hybrid duplexes. The melting temperatures (Tm values) of these hybrids were compared with the Tm values of the DNA.DNA and RNA.RNA duplexes. The order of the thermal stability was: RNA.RNA duplex > r(purine).d(pyrimidine) hybrid > DNA.DNA duplex > d(purine).r(pyrimidine) hybrid, when comparing analogous sequences.