DNA hybridisation Flashcards
What are 3 components of DNA?
- ribose sugar
- phosphate group
- nitrogenous base
How many rings do purines and pyrimidines have?
- 2 rings = purines
- 1 ring = pyrimidine
What are properties of nucleotide chain of DNA?
- base stacking : hydrophobic interactions > arrangement of bases set above each other internalised to the structure & excludes water.
- sugar phosphates : linked by phosphodiester bonds
- Van der waaals forces : individually small but contributes to the stability
What is DNA denaturing?
- conversion of a double stranded molecule -> a single stranded molecule
- disruption of hydrogen bonds within the double helix.
- occurs when DNA in solution is heated
- can also be induced by strong alkali or urea
how is denaturation measured?
- optically measured by absorbance at 260nm
- as temp increases duplex melts and optical density increases.
What is Tm?
- melting temperature
- point at which 50% of all strand separate is called Tm
- Tm = 85 degrees
What is hyperchromicity?
- hyperchromicity = increased abs of light at 260nm on denaturation
- single stranded DNA absorbs more UV light > double stranded
What factors does Tm depend on?
- depends largely on hydrogen bonds => GC content => length => salt conc => pH (alkali is a denaturant) =>mismatches
What is the equation to calculate GC content?
% GC = (G +C)/ (G+ C+ A+ T) x100
how does Tm and length of molecule relate and effect stability?
- longer = higher
- more hydrogen bonds within molecule increasing stability
- plateus after 300 bp
how does Tm and salt conc relate and effect stability?
- salt stabilises DNA duplex (Na+ is positive charge and DNA is negative charge due to phosphate)
- high [Na+] = high Tm
- overcomes the destabilising effect of mismatch base pairing
how does pH relate to Tm and effect stability?
- chemical denaturants disrupt hydrogen bonds eg: alkali , formamide, urea
- OH- disrupts the H+ bond pairing
- fewer hydrogen bonds = lower Tm
- high pH (alkalinity) destabilises DNA duplex
Define mismatch.
- a base pair combination that is unable to form hydrogen bonds.
how does mismatch relate to Tm and effect stability?
- reduces number of hydrogen bonds
- fewer H bonds = lower Tm
- shorter stretched of double stranded sequence = lower Tm
- mismatches distort the structure and destabilise adjacent base pairing.
What is renaturation?
- denaturation is reversible we call this renaturation
- renaturation is favoured by energy minimisation driven by change in free energy