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Biomedical subjects

S Arnott

Publications and source records attributed to S Arnott.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1974

Structures for polyinosinic acid and polyguanylic acid.

X-ray-diffraction analysis of oriented, partially crystalline fibres of polyinosinic acid has resulted in a new molecular model. This model consists of four identical polynucleotide chains related to one another by a fourfold rotation axis. The coaxial helices are righthanded (screw symmetry 23(2)) and have an axial translation per residue h=0.341nm and a rotation per residue t=31.3 degrees . Incorporated in the model are standard bond lengths, bond angles and C-2-endo furanose rings. The nucleotide conformation angles, determined by linked-atom least-squares methods, are orthodox and the fit with the X-ray intensities is good. Each hypoxanthine base is linked to two others by hydrogen bonds involving O-6 and N-1. Further stability may arise from intrachain hydrogen bonds between each ribose hydroxyl group and the phosphate oxygen O-3. If guanine were to be substituted for hypoxanthine in an isogeometrical molecular structure, additional hydrogen bonds could be made between every N-2 and N-7.

Guanine Nucleotides↗
PubMed1973

Triple-stranded polynucleotide helix containing only purine bases.

The structure of the complex involving one polyadenylic acid and two polyinosinic acid chains has been determined by x-ray diffraction. The three coaxial, helical chains have conformations like conventional RNA double helices despite the absence of purine-pyrimidine pairing. Formation of hypoxanthine pairs in codon-anticodon interactions therefore requires only trivial changes in the conformation of a standard nucleotide. Evolution of the contemporary genetic code involving purine-pyrimidine complementarity from a primeval code with only adenine-hypoxanthine pairing would have been possible without major discontinuities in molecular geometry.

Adenine Nucleotides↗
PubMed1973

Mucopolysaccharides: comparison of chondroitin sulfate conformations with those of related polyanions.

X-ray diffraction shows that chondroitin 6-sulfate, and some further rulfated derivatives, can occur in two ordered structures in stretched films. Both structures contain single helices with similar projected disaccharide lengths (9.6 and 9.8 angstroms) but with very different turn angles between successive disaccharides (120 and 45 degrees). In contrast, coaxial double helices of hyaluronates and t-carrageenates have shorter projected disaccharide lengths (8.5 and 8.9 angstroms).

Carrageenan↗
PubMed1973

Hyaluronic acid: a novel, double helical molecule.

Films prepared from a deformable gel (or putty) of hyaluronic acid show high crystallinity and orientation in their x-ray diffraction patterns. We have derived a probable structure for the molecules in these films. This is a double helix in which two identical, left-handed strands are antiparallel to one another. Each strand has four disaccharide residues per pitch length. Although the putty is prepared at pH 2.5, at which dilute solutions of hyaluronic have exaggerated rheological properties, the double helical form can also exist at physiological pH and therefore may be a biologically important form.

Circular Dichroism↗
PubMed1972

The dimensions and shapes of the furanose rings in nucleic acids.

A survey was made of the geometry of furanose rings in beta-nucleotides and beta-nucleosides (as monomers related to nucleic acids) for which structures have been determined by X-ray crystallography. Mean values, and estimated standard deviations from them, were calculated for bond-lengths, bond-angles and conformation-angles. For parameters with values dependent on ring-puckering, separate calculations were made for each ring type. (The rings are puckered in one of three conformations: C-2- or C-3-endo or C-3-exo; C-2-exo has not been observed.) The results were used to compute standard furanose rings with C-2-endo, C-3-endo and C-3-exo conformations for use in nucleic acid molecular model-building. The survey also showed that the only other conformation-angle in nucleotides dependent on the furanose ring conformation corresponds to the relative orientation of the purine (or pyrimidine) base and the ring.

DNA↗