Certain maternal mRNAs lose their poly(A) tails during early development and concomitantly become translationally inactive. In this report we analyze the mechanism of poly(A) removal during frog oocyte maturation by injecting short synthetic RNAs. We demonstrate that removal of poly(A) during oocyte maturation is a default reaction: In the absence of any specific sequence information, poly(A) i...

The interaction between pyren-1-ylmethyl tri-n-butylphosphonium bromide (PMTP), a water-soluble cationic pyrene derivative and the double-strand polynucleotides Poly[dA-dT], Poly[dA].Poly[dT], Poly[dG-dC] and Poly[dG].Poly[dC] was studied using UV-Vis absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. The PMTP probe interacts with polynucleotides through both weak and intercalative binding, evidenced th...

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were used to compare the structures of the chiral molecular micelles (MM) poly-(sodium undecyl-(L,L)-leucine-valine) (poly(SULV)) and poly-(sodium undecyl-(L,L)-valine-leucine) (poly (SUVL)). Both MM contained polymerized surfactant monomers tenninated by chiral dipeptide headgroups. The study was undertaken to investigate why poly(SULV) is generally a better...

In previous papers of this series the temperature-dependent Raman spectra of poly(dA).poly(dT) and poly(dA-dT).poly(dA-dT) were used to characterize structurally the melting and premelting transitions in DNAs containing consecutive A.T and alternating A.T/T.A base pairs. Here, we describe procedures for obtaining thermodynamic parameters from the Raman data. The method exploits base-specific an...

A human cell line BE, derived from an undifferentiated carcinoma of the colon, was studied for its response to the cytocidal effects of human immune interferon (IFN-gamma) alone and in combination with various double-standard RNAs (dsRNAs). BE cells were moderately refractory to 3-day treatment with IFN-gamma (10 to 300 units/ml) where only 5 to 30% reduction in colony formation occurred. A sim...

Among novel bis-nucleobase-phenanthridinium conjugates bis-uracil analogue stabilized significantly more effective poly-dA-poly-dT and poly-AH(+)-poly-AH(+) than adenine analogue and reference compound . For the alternating poly-dAdT-poly-dAdT however, the binding preference is lost, pointing to the importance of specific interactions of uracils of with homopolynucleotides containing consecutiv...

Poly(p-N-chlorostyrenesulphonamide) synthesized via direct chlorination of poly[(p-styrene) sulphonamide], can be used for selective chlorination of aromatic compounds. Aromatic rings of the anisole, p-xylene, ethylbenzene and toluene are chlorinated with good yields. The polymer can be recovery, rechlorinated and reused several times.

Poly(dG-dC).poly(dG-dC) and poly(dG).poly(dC) were modified by treatment with N-acetoxy-N-2-acetylaminofluorene, and their conformations were examined by circular dichroism and susceptibility to nuclease S1 digestion. A sample of poly(dG-dC).poly(dG-dC) modified to an extent of 28% with acetylaminofluorene (AAF) at the C(8) position of the deoxyguanosine residues showed a circular dichroism spe...