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X‐Ray diffraction studies on Mycobacterium smegmatis DNA
Author(s) -
Rajagopalan Malini,
Brahmachari Samir K.,
Sasisekharan V.,
Srivastava Rakesh
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
biopolymers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.556
H-Index - 125
eISSN - 1097-0282
pISSN - 0006-3525
DOI - 10.1002/bip.360220702
Subject(s) - library science , mycobacterium smegmatis , unit (ring theory) , physics , chemistry , mathematics , computer science , medicine , mathematics education , pathology , mycobacterium tuberculosis , tuberculosis
In this report, we present fiber-diffraction studies on Mycobacterium smegmatis DNA with high GC content (70%). This was done as part of the investigation of mycobacteria as the group which includes some of the dreadful pathogens that cause tuberculosis, leprosy, and many other diseases. Recently,it has been shown that the Mycobacterium smegmatis genomic DNA has two distinct stretches, with different GC contents. Such an arrangement of sequences may be of some physical significance for the structure of DNA and, thereby, of physiological significance. Hence, Mycobacterium smegmatis DNA was subjected to x-ray diffraction studies. We observed that at a 1:l Na+:phosphate concentration, this DNA exhibits a characteristic A-pattern (unlike Mycobacterium tuberculosis3) throughout the humidity range 30-98%.