Today, at 10:30 AM, Corentin Thouzé, student at the ENSICAEN, Caen, France, and currently intern at the calixDNA project, has presented the results of the recognition and binding studies of the genZ SBB specimen coded AB118 with the series of polynucleotide chains as well as on some mononucleotides. Corentin was employing UV-Vis and CD spectroscopy, fluorimetric titrations, as well as thermal denaturation experiments, in order to establish the stability of the AB118 SBB, and its potential [and potential of its in-situ prepared Cu (I), Cu(II) and Zn (II) complexes] to recognize specific portions of the various nucleic acid chains. The presentation included highly intriguing comparison of the Corentin’s results with those previously obtained by E. Otković (both Corentin and Ena were directly mentored by I. Krošl) on four related ligands from the generation zero SBBs. In line with these physico-chemical experiments, which are in the focus of Corentin’s and Ena’s research activities, the complementary computational studies are being perfromed by I. Nikšić-Franjić in order to identify specific portions of the SBB molecules responsible for the fluorimetric signals obtained. Finally, structural studies led by A. Višnjevac are there to complete the picture. Single crystal structure of the Cu(II) complex of the AB118 is solved, which gave a valuable insight into the size and conformational features of this compound. The presented results shall guide the design of the experiments to follow, which was also the subject of a discussion that followed Corentin’s presentation. The members of the local (Croatian) part of the calixDNA team were present: A. Višnjevac, I. Piantanida, I. Nikšić-Franjić, I. Krošl and E. Otković. The meeting ended at 12:00.
calixdna.org 