Abstract
The capacity of a nucleic acid to bind actinomycin (AM) is a sensitive indicator of polynucleotide configuration. Double stranded DNA binds the antibiotic [for reviews see Reich and Goldberg, 1964, and Waring, 1968 (1)] whereas double-stranded RNA binds only poorly, if at all (Haselkorn, 1964). That double-stranded RNA has a slightly different configuration than double-stranded DNA has been shown by X-ray diffraction (Arnott, Wilkins, Fuller and Langridge, 1967). In addition, a hybrid polymer containing one strand DNA and the complementary strand RNA binds little, or no, AM. Again X-ray analysis has shown that this molecule possesses a slightly different configuration than bihelical DNA (Milman, Langridge and Chamberlin, 1967). Denatured DNA, or single-stranded DNA, binds only poorly. Thus, the studies herein summarized (Wells, 1969; Wells and Larson, 1970) were undertaken to determine if the AM-binding ability of synthetic polydeoxyribonucleotides could be used as a probe for secondary structure as previously suggested. Other studies (Wells and Blair, 1967; Langridge, 1969; Wells, 1970) have already indicated that the DNAs do not all possess identical structures.
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Wells, R.D. (1971). The Binding of Actinomycin D to DNA. In: Hahn, F.E. (eds) Proceedings of the Research Symposium on Complexes of Biologically Active Substances with Nucleic Acids and Their Modes of Action. Progress in Molecular and Subcellular Biology, vol 2. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-65141-0_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-65141-0_3
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