# STRUCTURES, INTERACTIONS AND EXCHANGES OF NUCLEIC ACIDS

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI KANSAS CITY · 1993 · $167,371

## Abstract

The central objectives of this research is to elucidate the conformations,
configurations and interactions of nuclei acids and nucleotide analogs in
biological macromolecular assemblies.  The methodology focuses on the
application of Raman equilibrium and dynamic probes of nucleic acid
structure and hydrogen isotope exchange kinetics.  The specific aims of
the proposed research are:  (1) To establish new Raman spectra/structure
correlations which facilitate DNA and RNA structure determinations in
biological assemblies.  (2) To further develop the Raman dynamic probe for
discrimination and resolution of structure sensitive exchange processes in
nucleic acids and their complexes.  (3) To apply the Raman methodologies
to biological assemblies which cannot readily be investigated by other
structural techniques.  Realization of these aims will significantly
advance our understanding of DNA (and RNA) packaging, conformation and
interactions in viruses and cell nuclei.  Information will also be
obtained to advance our understanding of DNA molecular sites and secondary
structure which may be involved in transcriptional regulation and gene
expression.

In the proposed equilibrium studies, we shall investigate model nucleic
acids of known three dimensional structure (oligomeric DNA crystals solved
by x-ray methods) for the purpose of expanding our library of
spectra/structure correlations to include conformation-sensitive cytosine,
adenine and phosphodiester vibrational modes.  These empirical studies
will be augmented with normal mode analyses.  In the proposed dynamics
studies, we shall investigate purine 8CH exchanges, at the level of
individual nucleotides in DNA of defined sequence, in order to
characterize the effects of base sequence on helix groove dimensions as
manifested by solvent accessibility.  The Raman dynamic probe will be
further developed to distinguish the more rapid imino exchanges of base-
paired structures.  We shall continue our development of Raman single
channel and multi-channel instrumentation for more rapid and accurate data
acquisition from nucleic acids and their complexes.  Fourier
deconvolution, curve fitting and related data reduction protocols will be
employed to optimize data analysis, refinement and interpretation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3128170
- **Project number:** 5R01AI018758-13
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI KANSAS CITY
- **SAM.gov UEI:** J9CDGR596MN3
- **Principal Investigator:** George J Thomas
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1993
- **Award amount:** $167,371
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1987-09-01 → 1995-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3128170

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3128170, STRUCTURES, INTERACTIONS AND EXCHANGES OF NUCLEIC ACIDS (5R01AI018758-13). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3128170. Licensed CC0.

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