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Theoretical modelling of epigenetically modified DNA sequences

We report herein a set of calculations designed to examine the effects of epigenetic modifications on the structure of DNA. The incorporation of methyl, hydroxymethyl, formyl and carboxy substituents at the 5-position of cytosine is shown to hardly affect the geometry of CG base pairs, but to result in rather larger changes to hydrogen-bond and stacking binding energies, as predicted by dispersion-corrected density functional theory (DFT) methods. The same modifications within double-stranded GCG and ACA trimers exhibit rather larger structural effects, when including the sugar-phosphate backbone as well as sodium counterions and implicit aqueous solvation. In particular, changes are observed in the buckle and propeller angles within base pairs and the slide and roll values of base pair steps, but these leave the overall helical shape of DNA essentially intact. The structures so obtained are useful as a benchmark of faster methods, including molecular mechanics (MM) and hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) methods. We show that previously developed MM parameters satisfactorily reproduce the trimer structures, as do QM/MM calculations which treat bases with dispersion-corrected DFT and the sugar-phosphate backbone with AMBER. The latter are improved by inclusion of all six bases in the QM region, since a truncated model including only the central CG base pair in the QM region is considerably further from the DFT structure. This QM/MM method is then applied to a set of double-stranded DNA heptamers derived from a recent X-ray crystallographic study, whose size puts a DFT study beyond our current computational resources. These data show that still larger structural changes are observed than in base pairs or trimers, leading us to conclude that it is important to model epigenetic modifications within realistic molecular contexts.

The standard four-letter alphabet used to encode genetic information in DNA is a central tenet of molecular biology. However, in vivo chemical modification of bases can expand this alphabet markedly, giving rise to a host of important biological phenomena 1 . Epigenetic modifications, most importantly DNA methylation and histone variation, have the potential to affect gene expression, and are believed to play a major role in the complex pattern of development and differentiation of multi-cellular organisms. Fascinatingly, such modifications may be heritable despite not affecting DNA sequence, although the mechanism(s) by which this could be achieved are currently unknown. For details of currently proposed mechanisms please see reference 1 and work cited therein.
The most common and biologically important such modification involves methylation of the 5 position of cytosine (C) to form 5-methylcytosine (5-mC), illustrated in Figure 1. This does not strongly affect the ability of the base to pair with guanine (G), and in mammals is generally found in CpG sequences, though bacteria and plants display less sequence specificity 2 . Oxidation of 5-mC can form 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC), which is believed to be involved in regeneration of C via ten-eleven translocation (TET) proteins. Moreover, recent work has shown that 5-formylcytosine (5-fC), and 5-carboxycytosine (5-caC) are present in stem cells and organs of mice 3 .
The structural consequences of cytosine methylation and related modifications were the focus of a recent study 4 that used X-ray crystallography to show that incorporation of 5-mC or 5-hmC at different points in the d(CGCGAATTCGCG) dodecamer has a negligible effect on both local (base pair) and global (helical) geometry, although specific preference for the orientation of the hydroxyl group in the latter was clearly evident. However, while elegant, the resolution of these studies (between 1.42 and 1.99 Å) may mean that subtle structural changes could go unnoticed. Therefore, molecular modelling, whether based on quantum or classical mechanics, has the potential to contribute significantly in this field. Quantum mechanical models, typically using density functional theory (DFT), have been used to examine the base pairing and stacking of both unmodified (wild-type) and 5-mC DNA. Many groups, including those of Fonseca-Guerra 5-7 , Šponer 8-13 , Leszczynski 14-16 and others have used DFT to great effect in understanding the structure and properties of unmodified DNA. Regarding epigenetic modifications in particular, Acosta-Silva et al. 17 showed in this manner that methylation enhances stacking interactions, and can produce local distortions in base-pair step parameters, most notably in the slide parameter. Yusufaly et al. used similar calculations to show that methylation can induce over-twisting as well as softer modes for distortion from the global energy minimum 18 . We recently employed classical mechanics to examine not only the structure but also the flexibility of different DNA sequences with methyl and hydroxymethyl substituents 19 . Through use of extended molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we showed that structural effects are subtle, but that epigenetic modifications can give rise to changes in twist, roll and tilt angles that are markedly sequence-dependent. Moreover, introduction of 5-mC within a sequence that already contains hydrophobic groups in the major groove strongly affects hydration patterns, whereas an isolated 5-mC has a lesser effect on solvation and structure.
In this work, we use DFT and QM/MM methods to examine model systems containing modified cytosines. These range from individual base pairs, through double-stranded trimers, to heptamers. By including the sugar-phosphate backbone, sodium counterions and solvent we suggest that these are more realistic models than previous work using similar methods. However, a trimer of DNA brings us close to the size limit for application of DFT with the computing resources available to us. We therefore test and employ hybrid QM/MM methods for larger systems, in which the central bases are treated with dispersion-corrected DFT, while outer bases, sugar-phosphate backbone and solvent (where appropriate) with a molecular mechanics approach, thus allowing accurate and efficient description of systems consisting of hundreds of atoms.

Computational methodology
The initial structures of model systems were built in the canonical B-DNA geometry, using the w3DNA server 20 . Hydrogen atoms were added to the system according to expected protonation states at Amendments from Version 1 Figure 1 has been updated to include numbering, a new Figure S1 has been inserted. physiological pH using the Molecular Operating Environment (MOE) software package, and Na + were added manually in the vicinity of each phosphate group to produce an overall neutral structure. Where relevant, the central cytosine was also manually modified, and the results of all simulations were analysed using the X3DNA software package 21,22 . Atomic coordinates of wild-type, methylated and hydroxymethylated DNA dodecamers were obtained from X-ray structures deposited in the Protein Data Bank (PDB IDs: 1BNA, 4GJU, 4GLG, 4GLH and 4GLC) 23 , and truncated to 5´-ATTCGCG-3´ heptamers containing a single modification on the central C. All DNA termini were capped with methyl groups for simplicity.
All DFT calculations were performed with the Gaussian09 simulation package 20 , using default SCF and geometry optimisation criteria. Throughout, we use Grimme's B97-D functional 24 , that includes an explicit correction for the missing dispersion term in conventional DFT functionals, with either def2-TZVP or 6-31+G(d,p) basis set. This was previously recommended after thorough benchmarking for thermochemistry, kinetics, and non-covalent interactions 25 . All such calculations took advantage of the density fitting approximation, and where appropriate included the effect of aqueous solvation via the use of the polarized continuum model (PCM) 26 . Binding energies are corrected for the effects of basis set superposition error using the counterpoise method 27 .
Hybrid QM/MM calculations were performed using the ONIOM approach with electrostatic embedding 28 , as implemented in Gaussian09. The boundary between the quantum and classical regions was chosen as the N-C1' glycosidic bond in the relevant nucleotide. The QM regions were saturated by the use of a "link" hydrogen atom placed along the N-C1' vector at an idealized distance, and were modelled at the B97-D/6-31+G(d,p) level of theory, again within PCM water. The MM part of these calculations employed the AMBER force field parm96 29 , as defined within Gaussian09. The subtractive nature of the ONIOM method means that undefined terms in the MM expression do not contribute to the overall energy if the relevant atoms are entirely within the QM region, making it ideally suited for the purposes of the current study. We note that this approach has been widely adopted for QM/MM studies of DNA and related structures 30-32 . Pure molecular mechanics (MM) geometry optimisation was also performed using the GROMACS simulation package 33 and the AMBERParmbsc0 force field 34 , including RESP charges derived for modified bases in our previous work 19 , in explicit aqueous phase, specifically TIP3P water 35 with Na + and Cl counter ions to create a neutral system. Full details of the MM treatment can be found in ref. 19.

Results and discussion
Gas-phase base pairs To examine the effect of modifications on base pairing we examined the structure and energy of gas-phase CG pairs in both hydrogen bonded and stacked orientations, with results reported in Table 1 and Table 2 respectively. These data show that methylation has little effect on the geometry or stability of the Watson-Crick base pair. The presence of a hydroxymethyl slightly weakens the N 4 -H 4 …O 6 H-bond, perhaps due to the proximity of CH 2 OH and NH 2 groups, reported as X…H 4 in Table 1. Formyl has a larger effect overall, lengthening N 3 …H 1 -N 1 and O 2 …H 2 -N 2 H-bonds and hence reducing binding by over 3 kcal/mol, presumably due to the electron withdrawing effect of the formyl group, an effect that has been clearly documented before 36-38 . The pattern of changes induced by carboxylate is different from all other modifications, lengthening the peripheral H-bonds N 4 -H 4 …O 6 and O 2 …H 2 -N 2 markedly, but shortening N 3 …H 1 -N 1 . Despite this weakening, the carboxylate-substituted cytosine binds most strongly to guanine, presumably due to ion-dipole interactions within the anionic system. Both formyl and carboxylate contain close O…H 4 contacts, but overall the proximity of these groups does not appear to be related to strength or geometry of binding.
As well as the effect on H-bonding, epigenetic modifications can alter the stacking behaviour of DNA bases. Table 2 reports geometrical details, as well as binding energies, of the five modified cytosines considered here stacked with guanine. All such calculations started from the idealised B-DNA orientation (Cent…Cent = 4.390 Å, Dihedral = 4.9°), and overall this is retained in our gas-phase DFT optimisation. Table 2 shows that methylation leads to closer contact and greater stabilisation between bases, as might be expected due to the increased polarizability of this modified base. Hydroxymethylation leads to the most stable pair considered here, largely due to a strong H-bond between the H-O of hydroxymethyl and O6 of guanine (H…O = 1.770 Å), whereas formylation leads to longer, weaker interaction between bases. Carboxylate-substituted cytosine is the only case considered here that loses the approximately  parallel orientation of bases. This appears to be driven as much by repulsion between the carboxylate group and C=O 6 of guanine as by H-bonding.

Double-stranded DNA trimers
While these gas-phase dimers give useful information on the intrinsic effect of modifications on cytosine's ability to interact with guanine, environmental effects including the DNA sequence, sugar-phosphate backbone and solvent will play a major role in determining their effect in real systems. In order to better simulate the behaviour of modified cytosines in real systems, structures of double-stranded d(GCG) and d(ACA), as well as epigenetic modifications to the central cytosine were optimised using DFT in continuum solvent (PCM), and the resulting geometries of the local base pairs were analysed in the coordinate frame recommended by Olson et al. 39 . Unlike the free dimers considered above, modifications have only subtle effects on this larger structure, which retains the overall canonical B-DNA shape of the unmodified WT structure.
Following Zubatiuk et al. 14 , we summarise key aspects of trimer structure, which are displayed graphically in Figure 2 and Figure 3. The corresponding values are tabulated in Data file 1 of the Supporting Information, with the base step and local helical parameters tabulated in Data file 2. As with Zubatiuk et al. 14 , base pair step parameters are averaged over 3´ and 5´ directions. In the GCG oligomer, methylation has only a small effect on base pair distances, but does alter the propeller angle by over 4°. Hydroxymethylation has a larger effect on the GCG oligomer, especially on the stagger, buckle and propeller, whereas the stretch and opening parameters are much less affected. Formyl does not strongly affect base pair distances but does change angles substantially, especially buckle and propeller, which change by as much as 10°. In contrast, carboxylate induces a large change in stagger but only small changes in angular geometry. Base pair step parameters for d(GCG) in general are less affected than those for the base pair noted above, with the exception of formyl which exhibits smaller slide and less negative roll values than unmodified DNA. Rather larger changes are evident on modification of d(ACA), as shown in Figure 3. In this case, even methylation induces significant changes in distances, especially stagger which increases by 0.1 Å, and angles (buckle and propeller change by 8 and 13°, respectively). At the base pair step level, methylation gives rise to substantial increase (0.9 and 1.5 Å) in slide and more negative roll in both 3´ and 5´ directions. Less apparent in Figure 3, but still notable, are changes in rise that are 0.1 and 0.3 Å smaller in the methylated structure, reflecting the greater stacking that results from addition of a methyl group. Other modifications induce different patterns of structural change: for the central base pair these changes are typically smaller than for methylation, but for base pair steps much larger changes are found in some parameters. Most notable of these are slide, which changes by over 3 Å and roll (up to 17°) in the 3´ direction, in a similar way to that reported previously for smaller systems 17,18 . Other parameters such as the width of the DNA strand, measured as the distance between C1´ nuclei, and virtual angles λ Y and λ R , which describe the pivoting of complementary bases in the base-pair plane, vary only slightly from the idealised values for B-DNA.

QM/MM studies of double-stranded oligomers
The oligomers considered so far are close to the limit of our computational capabilities of current DFT methods (the largest structure, carboxylated d(ACA), has 962 electrons in 2743 basis functions), such that longer sequences cannot currently be routinely studied in this manner. However, they are too small to correctly represent how DNA behaves in a real system, where the conformations adopted by each base pair step depend on the neighbouring step. Moreover, simulations of nucleic acids are known to suffer problems due to greater elasticity of the terminal part of the structure (the so called "end-effect" 41 ). For these reasons, these small oligomers are inadequate models to probe the effects of epigenetic modifications on the structure of DNA. We therefore turn to hybrid QM/MM methods, in which a subset of the atoms in the system is treated with DFT, and the remainder of the system with much faster molecular mechanics methods. In order to test the validity of this approach, methylated GCG was optimised using either only two or six bases in the QM region (Figure 4). These tests show that including only two bases in the QM region leads to significant differences in geometry to that obtained from DFT, particularly in the stagger and buckle coordinates. In contrast, including six bases in the QM region reproduces the DFT structure reasonably well. Similar observations were made from analogous treatment of methylated ACA (data not shown).
As a further test, we also compared DFT and QM/MM derived structures with those optimised using the force field parameters developed in our previous work. Figure 5 shows the base-pair parameter values of the methylated structure d(GC´G) for the different methods. The MM structures provide very close values to those obtained by both QM/MM and DFT approaches, showing slight difference only in the stagger and propeller angle. We can therefore conclude that for small DNA oligomers, DFT, QM/MM and MM methods can all produce almost equally adequate DNA structures, but that QM/MM and MM approaches are more similar to one another than those obtained from DFT alone.
QM/MM geometry optimisation with six bases in the QM region was then applied to a set of larger DNA sequences. The experimental structure of Renčiuk et al. 4 obtained using X-ray diffraction (PDB Entry 4GLG) was truncated to a sequence of 7 base pairs, i.e. 5´-ATT CGCG-3´, and the central 6 bases (TCG//CGA) assigned as QM atoms. The remaining atoms, including crystallographic water molecules and counterions, were assigned to the MM layer, and the entire system was geometry optimised. The resulting optimised structure of the system with methylated C in the central position is shown in Figure 6. Base pair and base pair step geometries of wild type, methylated, hydroxymethylated structures optimised with QM/MM, along with experimental values for methylated C, are shown in Figure 7.
We find that the structural effect of methylation is larger in this longer sequence than in the trimers considered above. Particularly, the optimised values of shear, stagger and buckle of the central base pair differ markedly between the methylated and WT forms of DNA. In contrast, the base pair step parameters exhibit rather smaller changes. For the hydroxymethylated structures, we observe similar profiles to the methylated structures. Furthermore, our simulations also allow us to probe the preferred orientation of the hydroxymethyl group: our DFT calculations predict a slight preference for the OH group to point in 3´ over 5´ and an optimised of C6-C5-C5A-O5 torsion angle of 118.4°, while previous MD simulations show this torsion to vary between 85 and 120° over 100 ns of simulation 19 . This is in good agreement with the experimental and theoretical results of Renčiuk et al. 42 , who reported values between 72 and 133° using X-ray diffraction methods. Situating these modifications within the double-stranded DNA trimers GCG and ACA allows us to examine the effects on the central CG base pair and base pair steps. Base pair geometries undergo rather larger changes within ACA than in GCG, with changes in buckle and propeller angles particularly apparent. Changes to base  pair steps are smaller, although some changes in shift and slide values due to modifications are evident. Optimised geometries also act as a useful test of hybrid QM/MM methods. These can reproduce DFT structures if all six bases are included in the QM region, but if only the central base pair is treated with QM significant differences result. This approach is then applied to heptamers derived from a recent X-ray crystallography; here again, the central base pair is found to be significantly disrupted, whereas base pair step parameters are largely retained.
The studies reported here deal solely with static structures, but it is well-known that DNA is a flexible system that is in constant motion at biologically relevant temperatures. In previous work, we showed that long timescale molecular dynamics was able to highlight subtle differences in structure, flexibility and solvation resulting from incorporation of 5-mC and 5-hC in several different DNA sequences. The work reported here gives new insight into the intrinsic effects of epigenetic modification of cytosine, complementing our previous molecular dynamics study 19 as well as providing support for the molecular mechanics force field chosen for that work. Thank you for the detailed answers and adjustment.

I have read this submission. I believe that I have an appropriate level of expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard.
No competing interests were disclosed. Disparate statement in the abstract -please modify/clarify: "The same modifications within double-stranded GCG and ACA trimers exhibit rather larger structural effects" versus "but these leave the overall helical shape of DNA essentially intact." larger changes but DNA shape of helix intact?
Please clarify statement in introduction: "Fascinatingly, such modifications may be heritable despite not affecting DNA sequence, although the mechanism(s) by which this could be achieved are currently unknown." In respect to enzymes (e.g. DNA methyltransferase) known to transfer methylation from parent to daughter strands? Please enhance figures for clarity.

1.
Please enhance figures for clarity.
C: Please give more detail in each of the Figure caption (e.g. construct, reference structure -Fig.  7). D: Fig. 7: what is the reference "along with experimental values for methylated C" -are the values shown here the X-ray structure values or the X-ray Structure values optimized with QM/MM for the WT? -if it is the optimized data, than I suggest to add the experimental data uncorrected as well.
It is difficult to estimate the significance of the changes in structural parameters between different cytosine modifications or different simulation methods, as there are no errors/standard deviations are presented. I would suggest using a set of X-ray/NMR structures with the same sequence and/or modifications to create a standard deviation for the different parameters to give the analysis more significance (than I can estimate if a difference of 0.03Å is of importance or not: "Formyl has a larger effect overall, lengthening N3…H1-N1 and O2…H2-N2 H-bonds and hence reducing binding by over 3 kcal/mol." Difference in h-bond length from wtC is 0.025Å and 0.049Å, respectively -seems very small, but if all GC wc bp are within of 0.01Å distance, this would be significant). We thank the referee for the time taken to review our manuscript. Please find a point-by-point response below, with our responses italicised.
Disparate statement in the abstract -please modify/clarify: "The same modifications within 1.
Disparate statement in the abstract -please modify/clarify: "The same modifications within double-stranded GCG and ACA trimers exhibit rather larger structural effects" versus "but these leave the overall helical shape of DNA essentially intact." larger changes but DNA shape of helix intact?
We do not see these statements as contradictory: we show that there are indeed substantial changes in H-bonding and stacking interactions, but that these are not sufficient to disrupt the overall helical structure. We have, however, now explicitly included this in the abstract to prevent reader confusion.
Please clarify statement in introduction: "Fascinatingly, such modifications may be heritable despite not affecting DNA sequence, although the mechanism(s) by which this could be achieved are currently unknown." In respect to enzymes (e.g. DNA methyltransferase) known to transfer methylation from parent to daughter strands? This is certainly one key mechanism, but this is not the place to discuss in detail the biology of epigenetics, which is covered at length in references cited. We have made this point more explicit in the introduction and refer the reader to reference 1 for further information about currently proposed mechanisms.
Please enhance figures for clarity.

The figures have been modified as outlined below and we hope the improved version is now clearer to the reader.
A: Fig 1: numbering of atoms, full name of modifications, example GC WC base pair geometry and info on parameters "role, rise twist etc…". The legend for figures 2 to 4 has been altered to explain that central C has been modified.
C: Please give more detail in each of the Figure caption (e.g. construct, reference structure - Fig. 7).
Legend for Figure 7 has been expanded to clarify source of data.
D: Fig. 7: what is the reference "along with experimental values for methylated C" -are the values shown here the X-ray structure values or the X-ray Structure values optimized with QM/MM for the WT? -if it is the optimized data, than I suggest to add the experimental data uncorrected as well.
This was an oversight from a previous draft: Figure 7 does not contain experimental data, and this has been removed from the manuscript. Inclusion of further data from experiment would make this figure too cluttered and difficult to read.

7.
would make this figure too cluttered and difficult to read.
It is difficult to estimate the significance of the changes in structural parameters between different cytosine modifications or different simulation methods, as there are no errors/standard deviations are presented. I would suggest using a set of X-ray/NMR structures with the same sequence and/or modifications to create a standard deviation for the different parameters to give the analysis more significance (than I can estimate if a difference of 0.03Å is of importance or not: "Formyl has a larger effect overall, lengthening N3…H1-N1 and O2…H2-N2 H-bonds and hence reducing binding by over 3 kcal/mol." Difference in h-bond length from wtC is 0.025Å and 0.049Å, respectively -seems very small, but if all GC wc bp are within of 0.01Å distance, this would be significant). This paper presents an interesting theoretical studty on epigenetically modified DNA.
Legend of Figure 1: Please include the numbering, so that non-experts can follow the rest of the text.
Page 4: "The presence of a hydroxymethyl slightly weakens the N4-H4...O6" Is there an internal hydrogen bond that is competing with the N4-H4•••O6 hydrogen bond? Please explain.
Page 4 "Formyl has a larger effect overall, lengthening N3...H1-N1 and O2...H2-N2 H-bonds and hence reducing binding by over 3 kcal/mol. " This can easily be understood because N3 and O2 become less negative due to the electron withdrawing effect. See , , : 3032-3042 Chem. Eur. J. 2006 12 Chem. Eur. J. and and use these publications to explain these , 3581-3594 1999 5: , : 8816-8818 Chem. Eur. J. 2011 17 effects on the hydrogen bonds. The epigenetic modifications can be considered to be substituent effects and therefore the changes in the hydrogen bonds can be easily explained. We again thank the reviewer for the time taken to referee the manuscript. Please see our point-by-point response below.
Legend of Figure 1: Please include the numbering, so that non-experts can follow the rest of the text.
Numbering has been added to Figure 1.
Page 4: "The presence of a hydroxymethyl slightly weakens the N4-H4...O6" Is there an internal hydrogen bond that is competing with the N4-H4•••O6 hydrogen bond? Please explain.
The OH group of hydroxymethyl is found to lie close to H4, but the lengths reported in Table  1 put this "contact" outside typical ranges of N-H…O hydrogen bonds, such that we prefer not to refer to a hydrogen bond, but rather the proximity of groups.
Page 4 "Formyl has a larger effect overall, lengthening N3...H1-N1 and O2...H2-N2 H-bonds and hence reducing binding by over 3 kcal/mol. " This can easily be understood because N3 and O2 become less negative due to the electron withdrawing effect. See Chem. Eur. J.