Calorimetry of Nucleic Acids

Abstract

This unit describes the application of calorimetry to characterize the thermodynamics of nucleic acids, specifically, the two major calorimetric methodologies that are currently employed: differential scanning (DSC) and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). DSC is used to study thermally induced order-disorder transitions in nucleic acids. A DSC instrument measures, as a function of temperature (T), the excess heat capacity (C(p)(ex)) of a nucleic acid solution relative to the same amount of buffer solution. From a single curve of C(p)(ex) versus T, one can derive the following information: the transition enthalpy (ΔH), entropy (ΔS), free energy (ΔG), and heat capacity (ΔCp); the state of the transition (two-state versus multistate); and the average size of the molecule that melts as a single thermodynamic entity (e.g., the duplex). ITC is used to study the hybridization of nucleic acid molecules at constant temperature. In an ITC experiment, small aliquots of a titrant nucleic acid solution (strand 1) are added to an analyte nucleic acid solution (strand 2), and the released heat is monitored. ITC yields the stoichiometry of the association reaction (n), the enthalpy of association (ΔH), the equilibrium association constant (K), and thus the free energy of association (ΔG). Once ΔH and ΔG are known, ΔS can also be derived. Repetition of the ITC experiment at a number of different temperatures yields the ΔCp for the association reaction from the temperature dependence of ΔH.

Keywords: differential scanning calorimetry; enthalpy; entropy; heat capacity; isothermal titration calorimetry.