A circular dichroism study of the primary structures of three crab satellite DNA's rich in A:T base pairs.

Abstract

AbstractWe have measured the circular dichroism spectra and have obtained melting curves for samples of purified satellite DNA's from three species of crab, Cancer borealis, Gecarcinus lateralis, and Callinectes sapidus. Although all three satellite DNA's have the same density in neutral CsCl, their circular dichroism spectra and melting and reassociation characteristics are different, as are other properties of these DNA's. The circular dichroism spectra are analyzed to give estimates of nearest‐neighbor frequencies. We estimate that about 90% of the Cancer borealis satellite DNA and over 80% of the Gecarcinus lateralis satellite DNA consist of d(AT)n:d(AT)n sequences, while the serially repeating unit of the Callinectes sapidus satellite DNA may not contain any extended d(AT)n:d(AT)n sequences. The results from the circular dichroism spectra for the Cancer borealis, Gecarcinus lateralis, and the Callinectes sapidus satellite DNA's are in agreement with base composition analyses, which give 2.4, 8, and 25% G+C, respectively, for these DNA's.