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Published June 1978 | Published
Journal Article Open

Studies on nucleic acid reassociation kinetics: V. Effects of disparity in tracer and driver fragment lengths

Abstract

Measurements are described of the kinetics of nucleic acid strand pair reassoci ation where the complementary strands are of different lengths and are present in different concentrations. Rate constants for the reaction of labelled fragments ("tracer") with excess complementary strands ("driver") were determined, both for driver fragment length greater than tracer fragment length and for the reverse case. Second order reactions and pseudo-first order reactions utilizing strand separated drivers and tracers were studied. The nucleic acids which served for this investigation were ØX174 DNA and RNA, plasmid RSF2 124 DNA and E. coli DNA. Approximate empirical expressions relating driver and tracer fragment leñ the observed rate con stants were obtained for practical use. In long tracer-short driver reactions the ob served rate constant for the tracer reaction increases proportionately with tracer length. In long driver-short tracer reactions the rate of tracer reaction is retarded. The latter result is unexpected and appears to represent a departure from standard interpretations of the renaturation reaction.

Additional Information

Copyright © 1978 Oxford University Press. Received March 13, 1978. The authors gratefully acknowledge the gifts of phiX174 nucleic acids by Drs. Lloyd H. Smith, Amy S. Lee, Paul A. Johnson, and Robert L. Sinsheimer. We thank Drs. Robert C. Angerer and Terry L. Thomas and Mr. Cary Lai for their assistance in preparing some of the other nucleic acids used in this study. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the contribution of Dr. Michael J. Smith, then of this laboratory, who performed the initial experiments on tracer reaction rates in the presence of longer drivers. Professor Norman Davidson, Dr. Terry Thomas, and Mr. Frank Costantini provided extremely useful critical reviews of the manuscript. This research was supported by an NIH Grant GM20927.

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Created:
August 22, 2023
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October 23, 2023