Use of the 295- to 300-Nanometer Circular Dichroism Trough of Ribonucleic Acid to Study Helix Winding: Effect of Acridine Orange
- 1 October 1973
- journal article
- Published by American Society for Microbiology in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
- Vol. 4 (4), 455-458
- https://doi.org/10.1128/aac.4.4.455
Abstract
Acridine orange decreases the amplitude of the 295-nm circular dichroism (CD) trough of ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) where the trough has been related to coil character. Since acridine orange is known from earlier work to intercalate between base pairs of nucleic acids, causing an unwinding of the coil, and our studies show a decrease in the 295-nm CD trough, it appears that CD measurements may be used to observe relative unwinding of rRNA. Under similar solution conditions, melting temperatures with acridine orange indicate no significant change in the stabilization of rRNA structure by acridine orange. Hypochromicity studies show no increase in the percent base pairing in rRNA when 0.1 M tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (pH 7.6) with 1.35 M KCl is used. These results indicate that CD changes in the amplitude of the 295-nm trough of rRNA are related to helix winding in rRNA.Keywords
This publication has 9 references indexed in Scilit:
- Comparison of the physical and optical properties of Escherichia coli and sea urchin 5 s ribosomal RNA'sJournal of Molecular Biology, 1972
- Extrinsic cotton effects of acridine orange bound to native, denatured and formylated deoxyribonucleic acidBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 1970
- Interaction between acridine dyes and deoxyribonucleic acidJournal of the American Chemical Society, 1970
- The interaction of aminoacridines with nucleic acidsBiopolymers, 1968
- The extent of base pairing in 5S ribosomal RNA.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1968
- The Reaction of Ribonucleic Acid with Formaldehyde. I. Optical Absorbance Studies*Biochemistry, 1967
- A new circular dichroic band in nucleic acids and ribosomesJournal of Molecular Biology, 1967
- Complex formation between ethidium bromide and nucleic acidsJournal of Molecular Biology, 1965
- Structural considerations in the interaction of DNA and acridinesJournal of Molecular Biology, 1961