DNA Lecture 7 Flashcards
This means a loss of native secondary structure (the helix changes to a random coil)
Denaturation
What causes denaturation?
What happens during denaturation?
Heat and pH
H bonds and base stacking are disrupted
Are covalent bonds broken during denaturation?
What happens after denaturation when the temperature or pH are returned to physiological range
No.
Rewinding or annealing to yield the exact duplex
The transition from the native (double helix) DNA to randomly coiled single chains can be monitored by following the change in UV absorbance at ____
Recall earlier DNA lectures that all nucleotide bases absorb UV light, with a strong absorption at or near _______
260nm
26nm
The absorbance of nucleotide bases is less in the double helical form than in the random coil form. This phenomenon is known as
Hypochromism
The midpoint of the curve on the absorbance vs. temperature figure is the
Melting Temperature (Tm)
This value corresponds to the midpoint of the transition from the double helix to a single stranded DNA in a random coil formation
Tm (Melting temperature
This is also defined as the temperature at 50% denaturation
Tm
Each species of DNA has a characteristic
Tm
Differences in Tm of different DNA molecules under various conditions provide information about factors contributing to double helix stability
Tm depends on 4 things..
1) pH
2) ionic strength
3) size
4) base composition of DNA
DNA molecules with higher _____ base pairs have higher Tm values
G-C
How many bonds to G-C base pairs have?
A-T?
Which form stronger van der Waals interactions between base pairs?
G-C: 3
A-T: 2
G-C (duh)
The free energies of formation are most favorable for ____ base pairs (more negative)
G–C
Higher salt concentration ___ Tm
Why?
Increases Tm
The double helix is stabilized
Salt ____ may reduce the repulsion between DNA chains by neutralizing the negative charge on the ______ groups
cations
phosphate
Purines and pyrimidines can exhibit spontaneous alterations in their covalent structure
The rate of these reactions is very low, but is physiologically significant because they can result in ____
Mutations
Alterations in DNA structure that produce permanent changes in genetic information
Mutation
Evidence suggests a link between aging, carcinogenesis, and the accumulation of mutations in an organism
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Several nucleotide bases spontaneously lose the exocyclic amino groups in a ____ reaction
Deamination
In deamination, cytosine undergoes deamination to ______
It occurs in about 1*107 cytidine residues in 24 hours
Uracil
If DNA contained U rather than T, the cell would have a harder time recognizing those uracils which resulted from deamination of cytosine and starting a repair system
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