Abstract
We report analysis of the NaCl-induced B-Z transition in a 16 base-pair duplex DNA with sequence designed such that when NaCl is increased the left half of the molecule undergoes the B-Z transition while the right half remains in the B-form. An equilibrium thermodynamic model based on the body of available published experimental data and the recent theoretical work of Soumpasis, which indicate, in the salt range above ~0.9 m-NaCl, the transition free-energy of B-Z conversion in DNA is a linear function of the NaCl concentration, is employed. Analysis of the B-Z transition of the junction-containing molecule indicates the B-Z junction formed in this 16 base-pair DNA is composed of approximately three base-pairs and has a free energy of formation of ~4.7 kcal/mol junction. These values for the junction are in excellent agreement with published estimates of B-Z junction size and energy derived from much longer DNA pieces.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3-6 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Journal of Molecular Biology |
| Volume | 212 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 5 1990 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
This work was supported by grants GM-39471 from the National Institutes of Health (ASB), and DMB-8616358 from the National Science Foundation (RDS).