Frontburner
Talk
27 March,
1998
Life
from a
DNA-centric
perspective:
ON
COCA-COLA,
HEARING
AIDS, AND FOOD
POISONING
A Brief Outline
I.
The Problem: DNA Compaction
-
Three
aspects of DNA compaction in bacteria:
A.
Flexibility
B.
DNA supercoiling
-
Toroidal
supercoils from proteins
-
Plectonemic
supercoils
C. Intrinsic
DNA curvature
II.
What IS "curved DNA"?
A.
DNA is like Coca-cola
B.
Behaviour of curved DNA
B.
Models for intrinsic DNA curvature
-
Junction
model
-
Wedge models:
A-tract curvature
non-A tract curves
III.
On the Biological Significance of curved DNA
A.
cpe locus in Clostridium perfringens
B.
psbA2 regulation in cyanobacteria
C. mapping DNA curvature in complete
genomes
"Public Slow to Embrace Genetic Testing"
Read the article in today's New York Times (27 March, 1998).
Back to the Genetics Syllabus
Last modified on: 2 February, 2000 by Dave Ussery