Thermodynamic and Spectroscopic Studies of Synthetic Oligonucleotides as Model Compounds for DNA

2c Thermodynamic and Spectroscopic Studies of Synthetic Oligonucleotides as Model Compounds for DNA 

In this section, we describe the combined use of spectroscopic and calorimetric experiments to gain insights into the structure and stability of DNA. The results 

In the discussion that follows, we will not attempt to give an exhaustive account of the research efforts of the Breslauer group with oligonucleotides, but rather to present enough of a picture that the reader will grasp the flow of their experiments, the analysis of the results, and the correlation and synthesis of the data from the various techniques. 

The oligonucleotide, d(GAATTC), is said to be self-complementary because the duplex is formed by joining two strands of the same monomer in such a way that the free 5 end of one strand forms a Watson-Crick base-pair with the free 

3 end of the second, and all intermediate bases along the first strand pair with the corresponding bases on the second. The two strands in such a duplex structure are said to be antiparallel since, in a reading from one end of the duplex to the other, one strand goes from the 5 to the 3 end, while the complementary strand goes from the 3 to the 5 end. 

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