CPM Seminar

Competitive Structural Transitions in Torsionally Stressed
DNA Their Analysis and Roles in Regulation

Craig Benham

UC Davis Genome Center

DNA is known to be a highly polymorphic molecule, capable of assuming several alternate conformations in addition to the standard Watson-Crick B-form. These include strand separation, left handed helices, cruciforms, and three- and four- stranded structures. Although the B-form is its default conformation, regions within genomic DNA can be driven into alternate structures by the torsional stresses that result from regulating the topological state of the molecule, as occurs in vivo. In this talk I will describe this phenomenon and methods to analyze it. I also will present several situations where transitions to alternate structures serve important biological roles in both normal and pathological processes.