title: Calculation of sequence divergence from the thermal stability of DNA heteroduplexes.
abstract: Measurements are reported of the thermal stability of DNA heteroduplexes between clones of the eta-globin pseudogene from a variety of primates. The known sequences of this 7.1-kb region differ from each over a range from 1.6% for human versus chimp to nearly 12% for human versus spider monkey. Thermal stability was determined by standard hydroxyapatite thermal elution, and the results show a precisely linear decrease in thermal stability with divergence. The slope of the regression line is 1.18% sequence divergence per degree centigrade reduction in thermal stability.
authors.affiliation: Kerckhoff Marine Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Corona del Mar 92625.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Springer
authors.forename: E H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Britten
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D017886:Durapatite; D005914:Globins / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D006882:Hydroxyapatites; D009691:Nucleic Acid Denaturation; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D010802:Phylogeny; D011323:Primates / Q000235:genetics*; D011544:Pseudogenes; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013045:Species Specificity; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D006882:Hydroxyapatites; D005914:Globins; D004247:DNA; D017886:Durapatite