Nucleic Acid-Metal Ion Interactions

Metal/Nucleic-Acid Interactions

Characterization of metal ion-nucleic acid interactions in solution.

Metal ions are inextricably involved with nucleic acids due to their polyanionic nature. In order to understand the structure and function of RNAs and DNAs, one needs to have detailed pictures on the structural, thermodynamic, and kinetic properties of metal ion interactions with these biomacromolecules. In this review we first compile the physicochemical properties of metal ions found and used...

Understanding nucleic acid-ion interactions.

Ions surround nucleic acids in what is referred to as an ion atmosphere. As a result, the folding and dynamics of RNA and DNA and their complexes with proteins and with each other cannot be understood without a reasonably sophisticated appreciation of these ions' electrostatic interactions. However, the underlying behavior of the ion atmosphere follows physical rules that are distinct from the ...

Ion-mediated nucleic acid helix-helix interactions.

Salt ions are essential for the folding of nucleic acids. We use the tightly bound ion (TBI) model, which can account for the correlations and fluctuations for the ions bound to the nucleic acids, to investigate the electrostatic free-energy landscape for two parallel nucleic acid helices in the solution of added salt. The theory is based on realistic atomic structures of the helices. In monova...

Subtle interactions of cupric ion with nucleic acid and components.

In a study of the mechanism of activation of the copper enzyme, ascorbic acid oxidase, it was observed that most compounds which activate this enzyme have the common property of forming complex compounds with cupric ion (l-3). Among these activating substances were ribonucleic acid,’ deoxyribonucleic acid, and certain of their constituents. These substances showed a surprisingly strong affinity...