Nucleic acid denaturing agents

The most important product of the hexose monophosphate pathway is reduced nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH). Another important function of this pathway is to provide ribose for nucleic acid synthesis. In the red blood cell, NADPH is a major reducing agent and serves as a cofactor in the reduction of oxidized glutathione, thereby protecting the cell against oxidative attack. In the syndromes associated with dysfunction of the hexose monophosphate pathway and glutathione metabolism and synthesis, oxidative denaturation of hemoglobin is the major contributor to the hemolytic process. 

Chaotropic agents guanidine hydrochloride use for study of protein denaturation GTIC is considered to be more effective than GuCl GTIC used for nucleic acid extraction. 

Denaturation structural change in biopolymers which destroys the native, active configuration. It is brought about by heat, pH changes or dtemical agents. See Nucleic acids. Proteins... 

Click chemistry has proven to be a valuable tool to stabilize self-assembled nucleic acid nanostructures by covalent cross-links that are more stable to denaturing agents, or can, for example, be freeze-dried. Discussing various aspects of nanostructure stabilization will go beyond the scope of this chapter. Thus, only selected examples involving click chemistry for DNA nanostructure assembly and stabilization are presented. 

In a general procedure, after the cell wall is broken by mechanical or enzymatic methods (lysozyme), the resulting cell sap is treated with a protein-denaturing agent, such as phenol, or a detergent (dodecyl sulfate, lauryl sulfate), which precipitates proteins. Several extractions are frequently necessary. The final nucleic acid solution is treated with ethanol, to precipitate nucleic acids, or dialyzed against a suitable buffer solution. A review by Kirby (14) discusses the various isolation procedures used and their advantages and inconveniences. 

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