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In biochemistry, denaturation is a process in which proteins or nucleic acids lose folded structure present in their native state due to various factors, including application of some external stress or compound, such as a strong acid or base, a concentrated inorganic salt, an organic solvent (e.g., alcohol or chloroform), agitation and radiation, or heat. [3]
The process of denaturation on a denaturing gel is very sharp: "Rather than partially melting in a continuous zipper-like manner, most fragments melt in a step-wise process. Discrete portions or domains of the fragment suddenly become single-stranded within a very narrow range of denaturing conditions" (Helms, 1990).
The process of DNA denaturation can be used to analyze some aspects of DNA. Because cytosine / guanine base-pairing is generally stronger than adenine / thymine base-pairing, the amount of cytosine and guanine in a genome is called its GC-content and can be estimated by measuring the temperature at which the genomic DNA melts. [ 2 ]
Denaturing conditions are necessary for proper estimation of molecular weight of RNA. RNA is able to form more intramolecular interactions than DNA which may result in change of its electrophoretic mobility. Urea, DMSO and glyoxal are the most often used denaturing agents to disrupt RNA
For short DNA segments such as 20 to 60 bp double stranded DNA, running them in polyacrylamide gel (PAGE) will give better resolution (native condition). [1] Similarly, RNA and single-stranded DNA can be run and visualised by PAGE gels containing denaturing agents such as urea.
Denaturation: If alkaline transfer methods are used, the DNA gel is placed into an alkaline solution (typically containing sodium hydroxide) to denature the double-stranded DNA. The denaturation in an alkaline environment may improve binding of the negatively charged thymine residues of DNA to a positively charged amino groups of membrane ...
The most famous example is the hyperchromicity of DNA that occurs when the DNA duplex is denatured. [1] The UV absorption is increased when the two single DNA strands are being separated, either by heat or by addition of denaturant or by increasing the pH level. The opposite, a decrease of absorbance is called hypochromicity.
Guanidinium thiocyanate can be used to deactivate a virus, such as the influenza virus that caused the 1918 "Spanish flu", so that it can be studied safely.. Guanidinium thiocyanate is also used to lyse cells and virus particles in RNA and DNA extractions, where its function, in addition to its lysing action, is to prevent activity of RNase enzymes and DNase enzymes by denaturing them.