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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 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 ]
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.
When an electric field is applied, the DNA will begin to move through the gel, at a speed roughly inversely proportional to the length of the DNA molecule (shorter lengths of DNA travel faster) — this is the basis for size dependent separation in standard electrophoresis. In TGGE there is also a temperature gradient across the gel.
DNA with mutations from either A or T to either C or G will create a higher melting temperature. The information also gives vital clues to a molecule's mode of interaction with DNA. Molecules such as intercalators slot in between base pairs and interact through pi stacking. This has a stabilizing effect on DNA's structure which leads to a raise ...
Single-stranded DNA or RNA tends to fold up into molecules with complex shapes and migrate through the gel in a complicated manner based on their tertiary structure. Therefore, agents that disrupt the hydrogen bonds , such as sodium hydroxide or formamide , are used to denature the nucleic acids and cause them to behave as long rods again.
In the earliest forms of denaturation mapping, DNA was denatured by heating in presence of formaldehyde [1] or glyoxal [3] and visualized using electron microscopy. Dyes that selectively bind to double stranded DNA like ethidium bromide could be used to monitor the extent of denaturation. But it was not possible to observe locations of ...
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, separating it into single DNA strands for later hybridization to the probe (see below), and destroys any residual RNA that may still be present in the DNA. The choice of alkaline ...