The melting temperature of DNA is characteristic of the sequence of the DNA that is being melted. What can a melting curve tell you about the composition of bases within DNA? Explain how a melting curve is made, and what contributes to the relationship between temperature and DNA composition and sequence.
Melting temperature of DNA is the temperature at which 50% of double stranded DNA converts to single stranded DNA.
The melting curve is made by plotting a graph between temperature (at X-axis) and fraction of single stranded DNA (at Y-axis).
It gives a sigmoid shaped curve.
As the curve shifts to the right which means that the DNA melts at a higher temperature which in turns means that the force holding the two strands of DNA is greater which means that there are more G-C base pairs in the DNA.
G-C basepairs provide more stability to the DNA than the A-T basepairs because there is a tripple bond between guanine and cytosine whereas there is a double bond between the adenine and thiamine.
So more the G-C base pairs more the melting temperature of DNA and hence more shifting of melting curve towrds right side.
The picture below shows a rought sketch of melting curve.
Get Answers For Free
Most questions answered within 1 hours.