2011
Volume 11, Number 2, pp. 51–53
Quantum-chemical modelling of the tendency of DNA to denaturation
J. Kereselidze,1 Z. Pachulia2 and M. Kvaraia2
1 Department Chemistry, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, 0179 Tbilisi, Georgia
2 Department Chemistry, Sukhumi State University, 0186 Tbilisi, Georgia
A quantum-chemical model for the quantitative description of the influence of medium polarity on DNA’s tendency to denaturation by means of a nonempirical quantum-chemical method, density functional theory (DFT), is constructed. It is shown that a less polar aqueous medium formed by the addition of alcohols, ketones, acids and their ethers provokes narrowing of the two-stranded spiral, which results in an increased frequency of proton transfer between nucleotide bases and increases DNA’s tendency to denature.
Keywords: DNA denaturation, quantum-chemical modelling, solvent polarity