The centers of premelton signals, the beginning and ends of genes

9^th International Conference on Genomics & Pharmacogenomics

June 15-16, 2017 London, UK

Henry M Sobell

University of Rochester, USA

Keynote: J Mol Genet Med

Abstract :

Premeltons are examples of emergent structures (i.e., structural solitons) that arise spontaneously in DNA due to the presence of nonlinear excitations in its structure. They are of two kinds: B-B (or A-A). Premeltons form at specific DNAregions to nucleate site-specific DNA melting. These are stationary and, being globally non-topological, undergo breather motions that allow drugs and dyes to intercalate into DNA. B-A (or A-B) premeltons, on the other hand, are mobile, and being globally topological, act as phase-boundaries transforming B- into A- DNA during the structural phase-transition. They are not expected to undergo breather-motions. A key feature of both types of premeltons is the presence of an intermediate structuralform in their central regions (proposed as being a transition-state intermediate in DNA-melting and in the B- to A- transition), which differs from either A- or B- DNA. The so called beta-DNA, this is both metastable and hyperflexible�and contains an alternating sugar-puckering pattern along the polymer-backbone combined with the partial-un-stacking (in its lower energyforms) of every other base-pair. Beta-DNA is connected to either B- or to A- DNA on either side by boundaries possessing a gradation of nonlinear structural-change, these being called the kink and the anti-kink regions. The presence of premeltons in DNA leads to a unifying theory to understand much of DNA physical-chemistry and molecular-biology. In particular, premeltons are predicted to define the 5� and 3� ends of genes in naked-DNA and DNA in active-chromatin, this is having important implications for understanding physical aspects of the initiation, elongation and termination of RNA-synthesis during transcription. For these and other reasons, the model will be of broader interest to the general audience working in these areas. The model explains a wide variety of data, and carries within it a number of experimental predictions �all readily testable � as will be described in my talk.

Biography :

Henry M Sobell completed his studies at Brooklyn Technical High School (1948-1952), Columbia College (1952-1956), and University of Virginia School of Medicine (1956-1960). Instead of practicing clinical medicine, he then went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to join Professor Alexander Rich in the Department of Biology (1960-1965), where, he had a Helen Hay Whitney Post-doctoral Fellowship where he learned the technique of single crystal X-ray analysis. He then joined the Chemistry department at University of Rochester.

Email: sobell@localnet.co