Use of wolfram trioxide for setting off preparations of nucleic acids

The use of tungsten trioxide for shadowing nucleic acids is shown to be possible. Approximately 20 mg of tungsten trioxide could be prepared by heating (25 s, 2 V) a coil (4 turns, 1.5 mm i.d.) made of tungsten wire 0.5 mm diameter in a vacuum evaporator at atmospheric pressure. As revealed by electron microscopy, this amount of tungsten trioxide is sufficient for qualitative rotary shadowing phage lambda DNA.     

Chemically synthesized non-radioactive biotinylated long-chain nucleic acid hybridization probes.

A new method for the chemical labelling of nucleic acid with biotin to produce non-radioactive probes has been developed. NN'-Bis-(3-aminopropyl)butane-1,4-diamine (spermine) and long-chain diamino compounds (diaminohexane, diaminodecane and diaminododecane) were linked covalently to biotin and the resultant conjugates were attached to nucleic acid by using a cross-linking reagent (glutaraldehyde or diepoxyoctane). Iodoacetylation and biotinylation of the long-chain diamino compounds produced modified biotinylated conjugates that can be linked to DNA without the use of a cross-linking reagent. These types of probes attach one biotin molecule to each linker arm of spermine, diamino and iodoacetylated amino derivatives. Such probes have long linker arms separating the biotin moiety from the hybridization sites of the nucleic acid. These probes can detect 10 pg of target DNA by dot-blot hybridization.     

Modeling nucleic acids

Nucleic acids are an important class of biological macromolecules that carry out a variety of cellular roles. For many functions, naturally occurring DNA and RNA molecules need to fold into precise three-dimensional structures. Due to their self-assembling characteristics, nucleic acids have also been widely studied in the field of nanotechnology, and a diverse range of intricate three-dimensional nanostructures have been designed and synthesized. Different physical terms such as base-pairing and stacking interactions, tertiary contacts, electrostatic interactions and entropy all affect nucleic acid folding and structure. Here we review general computational approaches developed to model nucleic acid systems. We focus on four key areas of nucleic acid modeling: molecular representation, potential energy function, degrees of freedom and sampling algorithm. Appropriate choices in each of these key areas in nucleic acid modeling can effectively combine to aid interpretation of experimental data and facilitate prediction of nucleic acid structure.     

Extracellular nucleic acids

Extracellular nucleic acids are found in different biological fluids in the organism and in the environment: DNA is a ubiquitous component of the organic matter pool in the soil and in all marine and freshwater habitats. Data from recent studies strongly suggest that extracellular DNA and RNA play important biological roles in microbial communities and in higher organisms. DNA is an important component of bacterial biofilms and is involved in horizontal gene transfer. In recent years, the circulating extracellular nucleic acids were shown to be associated with some diseases. Attempts are being made to develop noninvasive methods of early tumor diagnostics based on analysis of circulating DNA and RNA. Recent observations demonstrated the possibility of nucleic acids exchange between eukaryotic cells and extracellular space suggesting their participation in so far unidentified biological processes.     

Physicochemical properties of T4 polynucleotide kinase.

Some physicochemical properties of T4 polynucleotide kinase (EC2.7.1.78) have been studied. The enzyme is an oligomer of one polypeptide chain. The molecular weight of the monomer is 33000, as determined from the amino acid analysis. Phenylalanine is the N-terminal amino acid. Each monomer contains two --SH groups, one exposed and one more buried. Circular dichroic spectra suggest a high content of alpha-helical structure, 45--55%. Excitation at 280 nm gave a strong emission fluorescence spectrum with a maximum centering at 340 nm. Sedimentation studies suggested the enzymically active form to be a tetramer. High ionic strength (0.1 M KC1), spermine, and the substrates ATP and thymidine 3'-monophosphate were found to be essential factors in order to stabilize the protein in an oligomeric structure. The association constants for ATP, thymidine 3'-monphosphate, and P1 were determined fluorimetrically to be 7.9 x 105, 4.8 x 105, and 7.2 x 10(2) M-1 respectively.     

Sequence studies of nonradioactive Mycoplasma tRNAPhe with the aid of polynucleotide phosphorylase and polynucleotide kinase

The known methods of enzymatic phosphorylation with [(32)P]phosphate of the 3'- or 5'-hydroxyl group of an oligonucleotide have been applied to oligonucleotides derived from Mycoplasma tRNA(Phe). The fingerprints obtained by both methods are very similar to each other and to that of uniformly labelled tRNA. The sequence of some oligonucleotides was determined by partial digestion of the 3'-phosphorylated fragment with spleen phosphodiesterase and of the corresponding 5'-phosphorylated fragment with venom phosphodiesterase.     

3'-Phosphatase activity in T4 polynucleotide kinase.

The purification of T4 polynucleotide kinase results in the copurification of an activity which will specifically remove the 3'-terminal phosphate from a variety of deoxyribonucleotides and ribonucleotides in the absence of ATP. This phosphatase activity requires magnesium, has a pH optiumum of 6.0, and is more active with deoxyribonucleotides than ribonucleotides. T4 polynucleotide kinase and the 3'-phosphatase activity copurify by gradient elution column chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, phosphocellulose, and hydroxylapatite. The two activities are included in and comigrate on Sephadex G-200. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis at PH 9.2 results in conigration of the two activities together with the major protein band. The two activities respond in parallel to heat inactivation at 35 degrees C and ATP, a substrate for the kinase only, protects both activities from heat inactivation. It is therefore suggested that the two activities are functions of the same protein molecule.     

Chemical etiology of nucleic acids: aminopropyl nucleic acids (APNAs)

Aminopropyl nucleic acids (APNAs) are constitutionally simple nucleic acid alternatives with one stereogenic center per nucleotide, and with the potential to hybridize with RNA and to exert catalytic functions. We have developed a protecting group strategy to synthesize APNAs, although in a not very efficient way. Isolation and purification of APNAs proved to be difficult. Their structures might be more suited to function as potential catalytic polymers than as information systems that may evolve into RNA.     

Mercurated nucleic acid probes, a new principle for non-radioactive in situ hybridization

This report describes the localization of specific nucleic acid sequences in interphase nuclei and metaphase chromosomes by a new hybridocytochemical method based on the use of mercurated nucleic acid probes. After the hybridization a sulfhydryl-hapten compound is reacted with the hybrids formed. A number of such ligands were synthesized and tested. A fluorescyl ligand could be used for the direct visualization of highly repetitive sequences. For indirect immunocytochemical visualization trinitrophenyl ligands were found to be more sensitive than biotinyl analogues. These ligands were applied for the detection of target sequences in metaphase chromosomes and interphase nuclei of somatic cell hybrids, human lymphoid cell lines and blood cell cultures. The sequences were in the range of high to low copy numbers. The lower limit of sensitivity is indicated by the visualization of two human unique DNA fragments (40 and 15.6 kb) in human metaphases. The method is rapid, gives consistent results and can be used for both RNA and DNA probes. Other potentials of the new principle are discussed.     

Interaction of nucleic acids. VI. Interaction of purine with nucleic acids

The interaction of purine with DNA, tRNA, poly A, poly C, and poly A. poly U complex was investigated. In the presence of purine, the nucleic acids in coil form (such as denatured DNA, poly A and poly C in neutral solutions, or tRNA) have lower optical rotations. In addition, hydrodynamic studies indicate that in purine solutions the denatured DNA has a higher viscosity and a decreased sedimentation coefficient. These findings indicate that through interaction with purine, the bases along the poly-nucleotide chain are unstacked and are separated farther from each other, resulting in increased assymmetry (and possibly volume) of the whole polymer. Thus, the de-naturation effect of purine reported previously can be explained by this preferential interaction of purine with the bases of nucleic acids in coil form through a hydrophobic-costacking mechanism. Results from studies on optical rotation and helix-coil transition show that the interaction of purine is greater with poly A than with poly C. The influence of temperature, Mg⁺⁺ concentration, ionic strength, and purine concentration on the effect of purine on nucleic acid conformation has also been investigated. In all these situations the unraveling of nucleic acid conformation occurs at much lower temperatures (20–40°C lower) in the presence of purine (0.2–0.6M).