Biopolym. Cell. 2003; 19(4):382-385.
http://dx.doi.org/10.7124/bc.00066C
Molecular Biophysics
Is the complementarity of canonical nucleotide bases in DNA their inherent physical-chemical characteristics? Results of the non-empirical quantum-chemical investigation
1Krechkivska O. M., 1Kosach D. A., 2Sudakov O. O., 1, 2, 3Hovorun D. M.
  1. National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
    2, Skovorody Str., Kyiv, Ukraine, 04655
  2. Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
    64, Volodymyrska Str., Kyiv, Ukraine, 01033
  3. Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, NAS of Ukraine
    150, Akademika Zabolotnoho Str., Kyiv, Ukraine, 03680

Abstract

Using ab initio Quantum-chemical calculation at the B3LYP/6-31++G(d, p) level in t/ie framework of «hydrophobic scenarios, authors arrived at the conclusion that complementarity of nucleotide hoses in DNA is not their intrinsic property, and their prototropir tautomerism – transition of Gua from keto to enolic form and Cyt – from amino to imino form – is a source of point mutations during the DNA biosynthesis. The obtained sequence of thermo-dynamic stability of quasi-isomorphous pairs GuccCyt > Thy:Gua (enolic) > Ade:Cyt(imino) > Ade:Thy enables us to explain the so-called asymmetry of point mutations in the course of the DNA biosynthesis. This, in its turn, evidences the adequacy of assumptions and conclusions made in this work.
Full text: (PDF, in Ukrainian)

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