Chemistry Commons^™

Equivalence Of The Transition Heat Capacities Of Proteins And Dna, Matthew W. Eskew, Albert S. Benight

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

It has been reported for many globular proteins that the native heat capacity at 25°C, per gram, is the same. This has been interpreted to indicate that heat capacity is a fundamental property of native proteins that provides important information on molecular structure and stability. Heat capacities for both proteins and DNA has been suggested to be related to universal effects of hydration/solvation on native structures. Here we report on results from thermal denaturation analysis of two well-known proteins, human serum albumin and lysozyme, and a short DNA hairpin. The transition heat capacities at the Tm for the three molecules …