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. 1981 Aug 25;9(16):4043–4059. doi: 10.1093/nar/9.16.4043

A study of the reversibility of helix-coil transition in DNA.

M P Perelroyzen, V I Lyamichev, Kalambet YuA, Lyubchenko YuL, A V Vologodskii
PMCID: PMC327413  PMID: 7301577

Abstract

The reversibility of DNA melting has been thoroughly investigated at different ionic strengths. We concentrated on those stages of the process that do not involve a complete separation of the strands of the double helix. The differential melting curves of pBR 322 DNA and a fragment of T7 phage DNA in a buffer containing 0.02M Na+ have been shown to differ substantially from the differential curves of renaturation. Electron-microscopic mapping of pBR 322 DNA at different degrees of unwinding (by a previously elaborated technique) has shown that the irreversibility of melting under real experimental conditions is connected with the stage of forming new helical regions during renaturation. In a buffer containing 0.2M Na+ the melting curves of the DNAs used (pBR322, a fragment of T7 phage DNA, a fragment of phage Lambda DNA, a fragment of phiX174 phage DNA) coincide with the renaturation curves, i.e. the process is equilibrium. We have carried out a semi-quantitative analysis of the emergence of irreversibility in the melting of a double helix. The problem of comparing theoretical and experimental melting curves is discussed.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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