Denaturation and renaturation of Penicillium chrysogenum mycophage double-stranded ribonucleic acid in tetraalkylammonium salt solutions.

The base composition dependence of double-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) melting was studied by observing the structure and widths of melting transitions for Penicillium chrysogenum mycophage RNA as well as differences in melting temperatures of two RNAs of different base composition. Double-stranded RNA melting is independent of base compositions in 3.5 M Et4NCl and 4.6 M Me4NCl, where the melting temperatures are 25 and 92 degrees C, respectively. Double-stranded RNA renaturation rate constants are reported in Et4NCl solutions. The nucleation rate constant is about 10 times lower than that for double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid. Analyses of renaturation kinetics results lead to the conclusion that each of the three similar but separable RNA segments of Penicillium chrysogenum mycophage is unique.