Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1987 May 15;244(1):243-6.
doi: 10.1042/bj2440243.

The interaction of spermine and pentamines with DNA

H S Basu  1 , L J Marton
Affiliations

The interaction of spermine and pentamines with DNA

H S Basu et al. Biochem J. .

Abstract

We studied the effects of spermine, two naturally-occurring pentamines isolated from the thermophile Thermus thermophilus and one synthetic pentamine on the aggregation and 'melting' temperature of calf-thymus DNA and on the B-to-Z transition of poly(dG-me5dC). All pentamines caused aggregation of DNA at much lower concentrations than that of spermine. Concentrations that increased the melting temperature of DNA and induced the B-to-Z transition in poly(dG-me5dC) were different for each pentamine, but were comparable with the concentration of spermine needed to cause these effects. Our results suggest that both the total charge and the distance separating the charge, which is a function of the length of the carbon chains between amino groups, are important for the induction of conformational changes in DNA. The biological role of pentamines in T. thermophilus appears to be related to their ability to promote DNA condensation at high temperature.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. J Mol Biol. 1970 Jun 14;50(2):297-316 - PubMed
    1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Mar;78(3):1619-23 - PubMed
    1. J Mol Biol. 1981 Sep 25;151(3):535-56 - PubMed
    1. J Biol Chem. 1982 Sep 10;257(17):9913-4 - PubMed
    1. Biopolymers. 1982 Jul;21(7):1301-14 - PubMed

Publication types