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. 1986 Jan 10;14(1):551–558. doi: 10.1093/nar/14.1.551

An algorithm for studying cooperative transitions in DNA.

H Marcaud, J Gabarro-Arpa, R Ehrlich, C Reiss
PMCID: PMC339440  PMID: 3484817

Abstract

Cooperative transitions in DNA (B to Z, B to A, helix to coil, etc.) are known to depend strongly on nucleotide sequence. In general the change in free energy involved in the transition can be expressed as: delta G(seq) = 2RT log (sigma) where sigma is a factor arising from the free energy associated with boundaries of different conformations along the molecule. This formula allows to infer a general algorithm with which DNA sequences can be partitioned into well defined domains in which, under suitable conditions, base pairs change state cooperatively. The different partitions of the sequence that can be generated by varying the values of the physical parameters involved in the above formula, are shown to be embedded into a binary tree hierarchy. Application to a reliable prediction of Z-DNA antibody binding sites will be illustrated for the 0X174 genome. Possible biological implications are briefly 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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