Electrostatic map of T7 DNA. Comparative analysis of functional and electrostatic properties of T7 RNA polymerase specific promoters

TL;DR

This study maps the electrostatic potential of T7 DNA and reveals that specific promoter classes have distinctive electrostatic motifs, enabling T7 RNA polymerase to differentiate among them based on electrostatic features.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed electrostatic profile analysis of T7 promoters, linking electrostatic motifs to promoter recognition by T7 RNA polymerase.

Findings

Electrostatic profiles of T7 promoters have distinctive motifs.

T7 RNA polymerase can distinguish promoter classes via electrostatic features.

Electrostatic mapping can predict promoter recognition patterns.

Abstract

The entire T7 bacteriophage genome contains 39937 base pairs (Database NCBI RefSeq N1001604). Here, electrostatic potential distribution around double helical T7 DNA was calculated by Coulomb method using the computer program of Sorokin A.A. Electrostatic profiles of 17 promoters recognized by T7 phage specific RNA polymerase were analyzed. It was shown that electrostatic profiles of all T7 RNA polymerase specific promoters can be characterized by distinctive motifs which are specific for each promoter class. Comparative analysis of electrostatic profiles of native T7 promoters of different classes demonstrates that T7 RNA polymerase can differentiate them due to their electrostatic features.