Premutation huntingtin allele adopts a non-B conformation and contains a hot spot for DNA damage

The expansion of a CAG trinucleotide repeat (TNR) sequence has been linked to several neurological disorders, for example, Huntington’s disease (HD). In HD, healthy individuals have 5–35 CAG repeats. Those with 36–39 repeats have the premutation allele, which is known to be prone to expansion. In the disease state, greater than 40 repeats are present. Interestingly, the formation of non-B DNA conformations by the TNR sequence is proposed to contribute to the expansion. Here we provide the first structural and thermodynamic analysis of a premutation length TNR sequence. Using chemical probes of nucleobase accessibility, we found that similar to (CAG)10, the premutation length sequence (CAG)36 forms a stem-loop hairpin and contains a hot spot for DNA damage. Additionally, calorimetric analysis of a series of (CAG)n sequences, that includes repeat tracts in both the healthy and premutation ranges, reveal that thermodynamic stability increases linearly with the number of repeats. Based on these data, we propose that while non-B conformations can be formed by TNR tracts found in both the healthy and premutation allele, only sequences containing at least 36 repeats have sufficient thermodynamic stability to contribute to expansion.

► First structural and thermodynamic analysis of premutation allele of HD.
► Premutation allele of HD adopts a stem-loop non-B conformation.
► Healthy and premutation length stem-loops are hyper-susceptible to oxidative damage.
► Stability of stem-loop structures increases linearly with repeat length.
► Thermodynamic stability, not the ability to adopt non-B conformation, distinguishes DNA prone to expansion from stable DNA.