Nucleic acids basic properties

Just as the functioning of nucleic acids depends in part on its overall structure, so does the activity of proteins depend on its overall structure. Protein folding is one of the hot areas today in science. To the synthetic polymer chemist, understanding the influences of factors, basic or fundamental, which produce protein chain folding will allow the creation of new synthetic polymers that possess specifically desired properties. For biochemists, understanding these factors allows us to better understand other factors and to combat particular diseases related to chain folding. 

Proteins, from many points of view, are much more complex than, for example, nucleic acids. As a result, it has been difficult to give laboratory protocols that can be applied to proteins in general however, in most cases the specialized protocols may be reduced to a few basic methods. But if a protein becomes pure or some of its unique properties are of special interest, another analytical method has to be used. Nevertheless, accurate quantitation of the amount of protein during the steps of protein preparation is the only valid way to evaluate the overall value of a procedure. 

Free pyrimidines and purines are weakly basic compounds and are thus called bases. They have a variety of chemical properties that affect the structure, and ultimately the function, of nucleic acids. The purines and pyrimidines common in DNA and RNA are highly conjugated molecules (Fig. 8-2), a property with important consequences for the structure, electron distribution, and fight absorption of nucleic acids. Resonance among atoms in the ring gives most of the bonds partial double-bond character. One result is that pyrimidines are planar molecules purines are very nearly... 

A typical molecular analysis of various micro-organisms is shown in Table 5.9U ) Most of the elemental composition of cells is found in three basic types of materials—proteins, nucleic acids and lipids. In Table 5.10, the molecular composi-tion of a bacterium is shown in more detail. Water is the major component of the cell and accounts for 80-90 per cent of the total weight, whilst proteins form the next most abundant group of materials and these have both structural and functional properties. Most of the protein present will be in the form of enzymes. Nucleic acids are found in various forms—ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Their primary function is the storage, transmission and... 

The structure of the DNA molecule is basically determined by nucleic acid base interactions. Although the three-dimensional double helix structure of DNA is influenced by various contributions, the hydrogen bonding in DNA base pairs is of particuar importance. Because it is difficult to obtain gas phase experimental data for isolated base pair characterisation (only a limited number of experimental studies are available [21]) quantum chemical calculations can represent a useful tool to obtain reference data on the structure, properties and interactions of nucleic acid pairs. Theoretical studies can help us to understand the properties of nucleic acids and they are fundamental for verification... 

The pH-dependent properties of the hydrophilic positively charged colloidal particles favor the adsorption of negatively charged nucleic acids at acidic pH and at low salt concentration. However, the desorption is favored at basic pH and at high ionic strength. The concentration process of adsorbed nucleic acid materials was performed via centrifugation [9], filtration, or magnetic separation [10] of the used colloidal particles. 

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