A FORTRAN-77 program is described which was applied for analysis of optimized structures and computer-generated dynamics trajectories of DNA and DNA-drug complexes. The CORDAN program (coordinates analysis) also can be used for various manipulations of DNA-drug complexes, i.e. inversion of asymmetric sites or rebuilding the structure of the intercalator, among others. These procedures can find application in drug design. Analysis of dynamics trajectory of neocarzinostatin antibiotic (NCS) intercalated to the A-DNA form of 5'GGATGGGAG:5'CTCCCATCC is presented. The procedures described can be used for detailed analysis of dynamics structures of DNA and their complexes with intercalating drugs.

An analytical procedure CORGEN generates a variety of DNA double-stranded structures from user-supplied sequence using a nucleic acid database incorporated into a standard FORTRAN-77 program. Alternatively, the cylindrical polar coordinates of DNA components may be supplied from the external table. An algorithm that performs intercalation sites in DNA is described. This procedure can be used to generate complexes of antibiotics with DNA. Non-standard DNA structures can be built by alternating the global helical twist and global helical rise in the regular DNA helix. The procedures described can be used for computer generation of a variety of non-standard DNA structures which can be subjected to molecular mechanics and dynamics simulations.

Computer-aided analysis of autoradiographic films of DNA fragments is presented. The Powell least-squares procedure is used for optimization of parameters for components of complex densitometric curves. Since each densitometric spectrum may be divided for several non-overlapped blocks of bands, there is no upper limit on the number of parameters which must be optimized. Eight shapes for the component bands are utilized: symmetric and asymmetric Gauss and Cauchy functions, direct, symmetric and asymmetric product of Gauss function and inverse of Cauchy function, and log-normal function. The probability of DNA cleavage is calculated with correction for multiple cuts. The methods presented was applied to detailed analysis of densitometric spectra of a 21-bp DNA restriction fragment and allowed for direct correlation between structural microheterogeneity of DNA and the resulting cutting pattern. This method should facilitate the analysis of densitometric data from antibiotic-induced cleavage of DNA and footprinting experiments.

Marquardt and Powell optimization methods without constraints on the optimized spectral parameters were employed for decomposition of complex i.r., c.d. and absorption spectra into component bands. The procedure resolved experimental spectra into eight component bands and it can be easily adjusted for a larger set of component bands. The CPU time required for achievement of satisfactory convergence of parameters for eight component bands is rather large even when using mainframe computers and therefore division of spectra into a few non-overlapped parts is advisable. The program also can be used for calculation of absorption, c.d. and difference spectra from formatted raw spectral data.