A study of the reversibility of helix-coil transition in DNA.

AUTOR(ES)

Perelroyzen, M P

RESUMO

The reversibility of DNA melting has been thoroughly investigated at different ionic strengths. We concentrated on those stages of the process that do not involve a complete separation of the strands of the double helix. The differential melting curves of pBR 322 DNA and a fragment of T7 phage DNA in a buffer containing 0.02M Na+ have been shown to differ substantially from the differential curves of renaturation. Electron-microscopic mapping of pBR 322 DNA at different degrees of unwinding (by a previously elaborated technique) has shown that the irreversibility of melting under real experimental conditions is connected with the stage of forming new helical regions during renaturation. In a buffer containing 0.2M Na+ the melting curves of the DNAs used (pBR322, a fragment of T7 phage DNA, a fragment of phage Lambda DNA, a fragment of phiX174 phage DNA) coincide with the renaturation curves, i.e. the process is equilibrium. We have carried out a semi-quantitative analysis of the emergence of irreversibility in the melting of a double helix. The problem of comparing theoretical and experimental melting curves is discussed.

Documentos Relacionados

• Molecular theory of the helix-coil transition in polyamino acids, I. Formulation.
• A thermodynamic model for the helix-coil transition coupled to dimerization of short coiled-coil peptides.
• The helix-coil transition of closed and nicked DNAs in aqueous neutral trichloroacetate solutions.
• Simplified Method in Polynucleotide Helix-Coil Transition Theory Including Binding of Complementary Monomer
• Prediction of the thermodynamics of protein unfolding: the helix-coil transition of poly(L-alanine).