Role of hydroxyl groups in the B-ring of flavonoids in stabilization of the Hoogsteen paired third strand of Poly(U).Poly(A)*Poly(U) triplex

We have reported the interaction of two flavonoids namely quercetin (Q) and morin (M) with double stranded poly(A).poly(U) (herein after A.U) and triple stranded poly(U).poly(A)*poly(U) (herein after U.A*U, dot represents the Watson-Crick and asterisk represents Hoogsteen base pairing respectively) in this article. It has been observed that relative positions of hydroxyl groups on the B-ring of the flavonoids affect the stabilization of RNA. The double strand as well as the triple strand of RNA-polymers become more stabilized in presence of Q, however both the duplex and triplex remain unaffected in presence of M. The presence of catechol moiety on the B-ring of Q is supposed to be responsible for the stabilization. Moreover, after exploiting a series of biophysical experiments, it has been found that, triple helical RNA becomes more stabilized over its parent duplex in presence of Q. Fluorescence quenching, viscosity measurement and helix melting results establish the fact that Q binds with both forms of RNA through the mode of intercalation while M does not bind at all to either forms of RNA.