Deamination

Deamination is a biochemical reaction that removes an amino group from a molecule, making it important in nitrogen metabolism and genetic stability. In amino acids, enzymes catalyze oxidative or hydrolytic removal of the amino group, releasing ammonia or transferring nitrogen while leaving a carbon skeleton that can enter other metabolic pathways. Deamination also occurs in nucleic acids: spontaneous hydrolytic deamination can convert cytosine to uracil or adenine to hypoxanthine, creating mismatches during DNA replication. Studying these reactions helps explain amino acid breakdown, nitrogen excretion, mutation formation, DNA repair, and the molecular basis of some diseases.

Deamination - Related Videos

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JoVE Core - Molecular Biology

RNA Editing

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2020

RNA editing is a post-transcriptional modification where a precursor mRNA (pre-mRNA) nucleotide sequence is changed by base insertion, deletion, or modification. The extent of RNA editing varies from a few hundred bases, in mitochondrial DNA of trypanosomes, to a just single base, in nuclear genes of mammals. Even a single base change in the pre-mRNA can convert a codon for one amino acid into the codon for another amino acid or a stop codon. This type of re-coding can significantly affect the...

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JoVE Core - Molecular Biology
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Overview of DNA Repair

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2020

In order to be passed through generations, genomic DNA must be undamaged and error-free. However, every day, DNA in a cell undergoes several thousand to a million damaging events by natural causes and external factors. Ionizing radiation such as UV rays, free radicals produced during cellular respiration, and hydrolytic damage from metabolic reactions can alter the structure of DNA. Damages caused include single-base alteration, base dimerization, chain breaks, and cross-linkage. Chemically...

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JoVE Journal - Biology
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DNA Methylation: Bisulphite Modification and Analysis

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Cited by 75 •

2011

The gold standard for DNA methylation analysis is genomic sequencing of bisulphite converted DNA. This method takes advantage of the increased sensitivity of cytosine compared with 5-methylcytosine (5-MeC) to bisulphite deamination under acidic conditions. Unmethylated cytosines can be distinguished from methylated cytosines after PCR amplification of the target genomic DNA.

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JoVE Core - Molecular Biology
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Base Excision Repair

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2020

One of the common DNA damages is the chemical alteration of single bases by alkylation, oxidation, or deamination. The altered bases cause mispairing and strand breakage during replication. This type of damage causes minimal change to the DNA double helix structure and can be repaired by the base excision repair (BER) pathways. BER corrects damaged DNA sequences by removing the damaged base and restoring the original base sequence using the complementary strand as a template. The first step of...

Transfer RNA Synthesis

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2020

One of the unique features of tRNA is the presence of modified bases. In some tRNAs, modified bases account for nearly 20% of the total bases in the molecule. Altogether, these unusual bases protect the tRNA from enzymatic degradation by RNases. Each of these chemical modifications is carried by a specific enzyme, post-transcription. All of these enzymes have unique base and site-specificity. Methylation, the most common chemical modification, is carried by at least nine different enzymes, with...

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