NUCLEIC ACID CONFORMATION AND FUNCTION

本研究的基本目的是确定天然产物的构象 圆二色谱(CD)研究核酸及其合成产物 光谱学及相关技术。CD是一种很好的技术 监测光学活性生物分子的二级结构， 由于它对最近邻发色团的取向非常敏感， 因为它可以在这些分子处于溶液中时使用。构象 有助于确定它们所经历的反应，因此 我们希望了解分子构象之间的关系 各种核酸及其生物学功能。然而，CD是一种 相对较新的技术和大量的基础工作仍有待完成 一种是将CD光谱直接与CD的二级结构相关联 生物分子。与此同时，我们正在调查 对于核酸的构象，我们也在努力改进这项技术 在实验和理论上都是如此，所以它会更有用。

The basic aim of this research is to determine the conformation of natural nucleic acids and their synthetic counterparts using circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and related techniques. CD is an excellent technique for monitoring the secondary structure of optically active biological molecules, since it is very sensitive to the orientation of nearest neighbor chromophores, and since it can be used when these molecules are in solution. The conformation of biological molecules helps determine reactions which they undergo, and thus we expect to learn about the relationships between the conformation of the various nucleic acids and their biological function. However, CD is a relatively new technique and a great deal of basic work remains to be done if one is to relate a CD spectrum directly to the secondary structure of the biological molecule. At the same time that we are investigating the conformation of nucleic acids, we are also trying to improve the technique both experimentally and theoretically so that it will be more useful.