Palindromic sequence

Palindromic sequence

A palindrome is a word that is the same forward as it is backward such as the word "racecar", the name "Otto", or the saying attributed to Napoleon "Able was I ere I saw Elba". Certain sequences of DNA are the same whether they are read 5' (five-prime) to 3'(three prime) or 3' to 5'. These sequences are called palindromic.

Because a DNA sequence is double stranded, we read the base pairs not just the bases on one strand to determine a palindrome. The restriction enzyme EcoR1 recognizes the following palindromic sequence:

5'- G A A T T C -3' 3'- C T T A A G -5'

the top strand reads 5'-GAATTC-3', while the bottom strand reads 3'-CTTAAG-5'. If you flip the DNA strand over, the sequences are exactly the same ( 5'GAATTC-3' and 3'-CTTAAG-5').

Palindromic sequences play an important role in molecular biology. Many restriction endonucleases recognize specific palindromic sequences and cut them. Palindromic sequences may also be methylation sites.

Some palindromic sites and the restriction enzymes that they recognize follow.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • palindromic sequence — Nucleic acid sequence that is identical to its complementary strand when each is read in the correct direction (eg. TGGCCA). Palindromic sequences are often the recognition sites for restriction enzymes. Degenerate palindromes with internal… …   Dictionary of molecular biology

  • Palindromic number — A palindromic number or numeral palindrome is a symmetrical number like 16461, that remains the same when its digits are reversed. The term palindromic is derived from palindrome, which refers to a word like rotor that remains unchanged under… …   Wikipedia

  • Palindromic prime — A palindromic prime (sometimes called a palprime) is a prime number that is also a palindromic number. Palindromicity depends on the base of the numbering system and its writing conventions, while primality is independent of such concerns. The… …   Wikipedia

  • Palindromic polynomial — A polynomial is palindromic, if the sequence of its coefficients are a palindrome.Let P(x) = sum {i=0}^n a ix^i be a polynomial of degree n, then P is palindromic if a i = a {n i} for i=0...n.Similarly, P is called antipalindromic if a i = a {n… …   Wikipedia

  • palindromic — Recurring. * * * pal·in·dro·mic .pal ən drō mik adj 1) RECURRENT <palindromic rheumatism> 2) of, relating to, or consisting of a double stranded sequence of DNA in which the order of the nucleotides is the same on each side but running in… …   Medical dictionary

  • palindromic — palindrome ► NOUN ▪ a word or sequence that reads the same backwards as forwards, e.g. madam. DERIVATIVES palindromic adjective. ORIGIN from Greek palindromos running back again …   English terms dictionary

  • sequence — The succession, or following, of one thing or event after another. [L. sequor, to follow] Alu sequences in the human genome a repeated, relatively conserved s. of about 300 bp that often contains a cleavage site for the restriction enzyme AluI… …   Medical dictionary

  • Strictly non-palindromic number — A strictly non palindromic number is an integer n that is not palindromic in any numeral system with a base b in the range 2 le; b le; n − 2. For example, the number six is written as 110 in base 2, 20 in base 3 and 12 in base 4, none of which is …   Wikipedia

  • Padovan sequence — The Padovan sequence is the sequence of integers P ( n ) defined by the initial values :P(0)=P(1)=P(2)=1,and the recurrence relation:P(n)=P(n 2)+P(n 3).The first few values of P ( n ) are:1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 12, 16, 21, 28, 37, 49, 65,… …   Wikipedia

  • Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats — L acronyme CRISPR ou Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats désigne en génétique une famille de séquence répétées. Cette famille se caractérise par des séries de répétitions directes, courtes (de 21 à 37 paires de bases) et… …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”