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Laser Raman Microscopy of Chromosomes in Living Eukaryotic Cells: DNA Polymorphism In Vivo
Author(s) -
Peticolas W. L.,
Patapoff T. W.,
Thomas G. A.,
Postlewait J.,
Powell J. W.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of raman spectroscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.748
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1097-4555
pISSN - 0377-0486
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-4555(199608)27:8<571::aid-jrs8>3.0.co;2-5
Subject(s) - nucleus , dna , raman spectroscopy , nuclear dna , sperm , biology , electron microscope , microscopy , nucleic acid , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , biophysics , anatomy , genetics , mitochondrial dna , optics , gene , physics
In order to answer the question of what the structure of DNA is in the nucleus of a living cell where its long length must be subjected to repeated folds in order to pack it into such a small space, a laser Raman microscope was designed and built to take the Raman spectra of DNA in the packaged state in which it occurs in nature. Spectra were taken of the DNA in salmon sperm, squid sperm and the nucleus of the salivary gland of Drosophila melano ‐ gaster . These measurements show that the majority of the deoxynucleotide residues in the DNA in the nucleus belongs to the B‐type family of conformations. However, the DNA in the nucleus may have a different furanose ring pucker than it does in solution, which may be evidence of some significant polymorphism.