# PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF VIRUSES, CHROMOSOMES & CELL NUCLEI

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIF-LAWRENC BERKELEY LAB · 1990 · $306,737

## Abstract

The main objective is to study in vivo and in vitro the structure
of nuclei acids, viruses, nucleoproteins and chromosomes, and
other significant biological structures such as red blood cells.
Particular emphasis on the internal organization of nucleic
acids, and in the case of red blood cells, (RBC), the internal
organization of polymerized sickle cell hemoglobin (Hb S).  This
will be attempted by using the remarkable optical properties of
nucleic acids, and proteins, (Heme and non-heme for the RBC) in
their various chemical and physical states.

The most important methods will be: a circular dichroism (CD) and
flow oriented CD; b) circular dichroic microspectrophotometer; c)
differential imaging polarization microscopy; d) fluorescence
detected circular dichroism (FDCD); and e) scattered corrected CD
by fluorscat and FDCD methods.  g) Intensified images of
fluorescent labeled nucleic acids.

The above techniques will give information concerning the
following properties: a) the interactions between the bases of
the nucleic acids and protein complexes and the protein
components with themselves in such biological structures as
viruses, chromosomes and intact nuclei; b) the electric and
hydrodynamic properties of the protein coats and the average
orientation of nucleic acids in viruses, nucleoprotein -DNA and
RNA aggregates and/or complexes, and the degree of coiling of
nucleic acids in intact nuclei and intact cells.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3124414
- **Project number:** 5R01AI008427-22
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIF-LAWRENC BERKELEY LAB
- **SAM.gov UEI:** ENBLDJUN4N73
- **Principal Investigator:** MARCOS F MAESTRE
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1990
- **Award amount:** $306,737
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1978-01-01 → 1994-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3124414

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3124414, PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF VIRUSES, CHROMOSOMES & CELL NUCLEI (5R01AI008427-22). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3124414. Licensed CC0.

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