Internal motions of nucleic acid structures and the determination of base-pair lifetimes

摘要

Over the years, imino proton exchange measurements have provided a description of base-pair opening and of properties of internal motions of nucleic acids such as the individual opening of base pairs and the insensitivity of base-pair lifetimes to the nature and stability of neighboring pairs. A recent determination of base-pair lifetimes in d(CGCGATCGCG) conflicts with the original measurements and their interpretation.