The effect of force on thermodynamics and kinetics: unfolding single RNA molecules.
We have used laser tweezers to unfold single RNA molecules at room temperature and in physiological-type solvents. The forces necessary to unfold the RNAs are over the range 10-20 pN, forces that can be generated by cellular enzymes. The Gibbs free energy for the unfolding of TAR (transactivation-responsive) RNA from HIV was found to be increased after the addition of argininamide; the TAR hairpin was stabilized. The rate of unfolding was decreased and the rate of folding was increased by argininamide.
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Chemistry Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1460, USA. intinoco@lbl.gov
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D001120:Arginine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry; D001703:Biophysics / Q000379:methods*; D006678:HIV / Q000737:chemistry; D007700:Kinetics; D007834:Lasers; D008024:Ligands; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D017510:Protein Folding; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature; D013816:Thermodynamics; D015533:Transcriptional Activation
D008024:Ligands; C069339:argininamide; D012313:RNA; D001120:Arginine