ISSN:
0006-3525
Keywords:
Chemistry
;
Polymer and Materials Science
Source:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Topics:
Chemistry and Pharmacology
Notes:
Interaction between polylysine and DNA's of varied G + C contents was studied using thermal denaturation and circular dichroism (CD). For each complex there is one melting band at a lower temperature tm, corresponding to the helix-coil transition of free base pairs, and another band at a higher temperature t′m, corresponding to the transition of polylysine-bound base pairs. For free base pairs, with natural DNA's and poly(dA-dT) a linear relation is observed between the tm and the G + C content of the particular DNA used. This is not true with poly(dG)·poly(dC), which has a tm about 20°C lower than the extrapolated value for DNA of 100% G + C. For polylysine-bound base pairs, a linear relation is also observed between the t′m and the G + C content of natural DNA's but neither poly(dA-dT) nor poly(dG)·poly(dC) complexes follow this relationship. The dependence of melting temperature on composition, expressed as dtm/dXG·C, where XG·C is the fraction of G·C pairs, is 60°C for free base pairs and only 21°C for polylysine-bound base pairs. This reduction in compositional dependence of Tm is similar to that observed for pure DNA in high ionic strength. Although the t′m of polylysine-poly(dA-dT) is 9°C lower than the extrapolated value for 0% G + C in EDTA buffer, it is independent of ionic strength in the medium and is equal to the tm0 extrapolated from the linear plot of tm against log Na+. There is also a noticeable similarity in the CD spectra of polylysine· and polyarginine·DNA complexes, except for complexes with poly(dA-dT). The calculated CD spectrum of polylysine-bound poly(dA-dT) is substantially different from that of polyarginine-bound poly(dA-dT).
Additional Material:
8 Ill.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bip.1975.360141113
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