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Counterions which favour the C form of DNA.
Author(s) -
Portugal J.,
Subirana J.A.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb03946.x
Subject(s) - counterion , biology , transition (genetics) , dna , humanities , genetics , physics , philosophy , gene , ion , quantum mechanics
Recently the relationship between the B and C forms of DNA has been questioned. We have found some amino acids and related amines which form complexes with DNA and favour the C form. We have studied such complexes by X‐ray diffraction. With some of these counterions the transition between the B and C forms occurs smoothly, whereas in other cases there is a discontinuous transition. We conclude that the C form is a well‐defined variant of the B form favoured by some counterions under low humidity conditions.