next up previous contents index
Next: Standard Geometry Definition Up: The CHAIN Statement Previous: Multichain Model Example

Nucleic Acid Structure Example

The sequence for DNA and RNA is defined in a manner very similar to that of proteins. This is understandable because they both are polymers. The names of the bases are ADE, GUA, THY, CYT, URA. The link between the bases is SUGPHOS for RNA and dSUGPHOS for DNA. A special link is required on both ends of a nucleic acid chain. On the 5' end we need 5'END for RNA and d5'END for DNA and on the 3' end we need 3'END and d3'END. In proteins the final link is to a residue which contains only the final carbonyl oxygen. In a nucleic acid the final residue is empty. Using these rules the sequence file for Dickerson's dodecamer is

CHAIN A DNA
CHAIN B DNA
RESIDUE DNA|1        CYT   2 d5'END
RESIDUE DNA|2        GUA   3 dSUGPHOS  
RESIDUE DNA|3        CYT   4 dSUGPHOS   
RESIDUE DNA|4        GUA   5 dSUGPHOS  
RESIDUE DNA|5        ADE   6 dSUGPHOS  
RESIDUE DNA|6        ADE   7 dSUGPHOS  
RESIDUE DNA|7        THY   8 dSUGPHOS   
RESIDUE DNA|8        THY   9 dSUGPHOS   
RESIDUE DNA|9        CYT  10 dSUGPHOS   
RESIDUE DNA|10       GUA  11 dSUGPHOS  
RESIDUE DNA|11       CYT  12 dSUGPHOS   
RESIDUE DNA|12       GUA  13 d3'END
RESIDUE DNA|13       DUMMY



Dale Edwin Tronrud
Wed Jul 5 13:21:03 PDT 2000