ISSN:
0006-3525
Keywords:
Chemistry
;
Polymer and Materials Science
Source:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Topics:
Chemistry and Pharmacology
Notes:
The inactivation of sRNA by reaction with formaldehyde has been reported as it occurs under various conditions giving differing amounts of secondary structure. The theory of inactivation of an active macromolecule by a chemical reaction is developed. Results obtained with a partially melted out secondary structure show that formaldehyde inactivates sRNA by a single reaction at any one of about ten sites, while reaction at other sites does not affect the activity of the sRNA. In the presence of Mg++ at neutral pH, a large proportion of the active molecules are completely protected against inactivation. From the correlation between the amount of secondary structure and the difficulty of inactivation, it is shown that at least a portion of the secondary structure of sRNA is essential to its amino acid acceptor ability. A comparison of results of various workers shows that formaldehyde does not alter RNA as drastically as other reagents and thus enables more discrimination between sites of reaction which are essential and those which are not essential to biochemical activity.
Additional Material:
5 Ill.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bip.360010303
