Current Organic Chemistry - Volume 8, Issue 3, 2004

In this issue of Current Organic Chemistry there are papers describing different aspects of nucleic acid chemistry and metabolism. Histones, the building blocks of nucleosomes and a major component of chromatin, play essential roles in the eukaryotic cell. One of their roles is to regulate transcription by participating in forming repressive chromatin structures. In the last several years it has become apparent that histones Read More

Eukaryotic chromosomes consist of blocks of transcriptionally active and inactive regions. Heterochromatic regions of chromatin are generally transcriptionally repressed, and this repressive structure can be propagated along the chromatin fiber. Here I review recent insights on the role of histone modifications in the propagation of repressive chromatin structure, focusing on the creation of heterochromatin protein binding Read More

The enzymes involved in the replication of the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) have been some of the most intensely studied proteins in recent history because they are targets for rational drug design. HCV is an established and growing menace to human health that is without a current vaccine or a widely affordable and effective treatment. Traditional antiviral screening is difficult with HCV because of the lack of a convenient anim Read More

The area of isothermal titration microcalorimetric (ITC) studies on solution systems involving nucleotides is reviewed. 62 references are cited. About 25 ITC studies on nucleotide systems have been published during the last two decades. The main part (ca 95%) of these papers deal with nucleotide-protein interactions and one paper involves nucleotide-nucleotide binding studies. The results of such studies include stoichio Read More

With respect to the biological role during DNA damaging and to potential applications in DNA chip and nanotechnology, the DNA-mediated charge transfer phenomena attracted a lot of attention in the scientific community during the last 15 years. Most research groups have focused their work on the photochemically or photophysically induced oxidation or reduction of DNA using different charge donors. Organic and inorganic i Read More