title: Measurement of diffusion constants for nucleic acids by NMR.
abstract: Pulsed field-gradient NMR experiments can be used to measure the diffusion constants of nucleic acids. The diffusion constants measured in this way for double-helical DNAs of defined length agree well both with theory and with measurements done using other techniques. When applied to RNAs, this experiment easily distinguishes duplex RNAs from RNA hairpins and thus it can solve one of the perennial problems faced by RNA spectroscopists, i.e. assessing whether their samples are monomeric or not.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8107, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lapham
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Rife
authors.forename: P B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Crothers
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D004058:Diffusion; D019281:Dimerization; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular / Q000379:methods*; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D014783:Viscosity
chemical_list: D012313:RNA; D004247:DNA