Temperature variation of polyribonucleotide conformation by an interaction with basic globular proteins.

Chicken lysozyme interacts with polyribonucleotides to form large light-scattering centers. The size of these is critically dependent on conformation of the polynucleotides. Hence, the interaction provides a very sensitive method of determining temperature intervals within which the polynucleotides change from multistranded, stacked-base structures to single-stranded, random coils. This change can be observed with the unaided eye, especially when concentrations of polynucleotides are of the order of a few micrograms per milliliter.