Honors Program Theses

Award/Availability

Open Access Honors Program Thesis

First Advisor

Justin Peters, Honors Thesis Advisor

Second Advisor

Ali Tabei, Honors Thesis Advisor

Keywords

DNA--Conformation; Protein binding;

Abstract

This project used Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) imaging to examine the effects of different intercalation conditions upon the elastic properties of intrinsically straight DNA molecules. Three intercalating molecules (chloroquine, ethidium bromide, and acridine) were used to demonstrate the dependence of persistence length and mean polymer extension on the intercalator type. It was found that all three intercalators significantly increased persistence length, and that this effect was most pronounced for ethidium bromide. In addition, an analysis of the normal bending modes of the static molecules corroborated these results. The only intercalator which resulted in significant extension of the DNA polymers was ethidium bromide. By measuring these properties for a model system of DNA, the understanding of binding effects of intercalators and the bending properties of generic DNA molecules will be improved.

Year of Submission

5-2020

Department

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

University Honors Designation

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the designation University Honors

Date Original

5-2020

Object Description

1 PDF file (22 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Download

Comments?

Share

COinS