TY - JOUR
T1 - Thermal difference spectra
T2 - A specific signature for nucleic acid structures
AU - Mergny, Jean Louis
AU - Li, Jing
AU - Lacroix, Laurent
AU - Amrane, Samir
AU - Chaires, Jonathan B.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank M. Rougée, T. Garestier, L. Guittat, P. Arimondo, P. Alberti, B. Saccà (MNHN, Paris, France) M. Mills (UCT, Cape Town, Republic of South Africa) for helpful discussions. This work was supported by an ARC grant (#3365 to J.L.M), a EU FP6 MOLCANCERMED grant (to J.L.M.), a fondation Jérome Lejeune research grant (to S.A.) and National Cancer Institute grant CA35635 (to J.B.C). Funding to pay the Open Access publication charges for this article was provided by INSERM.
PY - 2005/1/1
Y1 - 2005/1/1
N2 - We show that nucleic acid structures may be conveniently and inexpensively characterized by their UV thermal difference spectra. A thermal difference spectrum (TDS) is obtained for a nucleic acid by simply recording the ultraviolet absorbance spectra of the unfolded and folded states at temperatures above and below its melting temperature (Tm). The difference between these two spectra is the TDS. The TDS has a specific shape that is unique for each type of nucleic acid structure, a conclusion that is based on a comparison of >900 spectra from 200 different sequences. The shape of the TDS reflects the subtleties of base stacking interactions that occur uniquely within each type of nucleic acid structure. TDS provides a simple, inexpensive and rapid method to obtain structural insight into nucleic acid structures, which is applicable to both DNA and RNA from short oligomers to polynucleotides. TDS complements circular dichroism as a tool for the structural characterization of nucleic acids in solution.
AB - We show that nucleic acid structures may be conveniently and inexpensively characterized by their UV thermal difference spectra. A thermal difference spectrum (TDS) is obtained for a nucleic acid by simply recording the ultraviolet absorbance spectra of the unfolded and folded states at temperatures above and below its melting temperature (Tm). The difference between these two spectra is the TDS. The TDS has a specific shape that is unique for each type of nucleic acid structure, a conclusion that is based on a comparison of >900 spectra from 200 different sequences. The shape of the TDS reflects the subtleties of base stacking interactions that occur uniquely within each type of nucleic acid structure. TDS provides a simple, inexpensive and rapid method to obtain structural insight into nucleic acid structures, which is applicable to both DNA and RNA from short oligomers to polynucleotides. TDS complements circular dichroism as a tool for the structural characterization of nucleic acids in solution.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/27144440078
U2 - 10.1093/nar/gni134
DO - 10.1093/nar/gni134
M3 - Article
C2 - 16157860
AN - SCOPUS:27144440078
SN - 0305-1048
VL - 33
SP - 1
EP - 6
JO - Nucleic Acids Research
JF - Nucleic Acids Research
IS - 16
ER -