Question

If you have two samples, one containing protein and the other containing DNA, predict what you will see when you do the following things: Heat both samples to 60°C

Answer 1

At 60°C, proteins may begin to denature while DNA is likely to partially reanneal without fully denaturing. A protein sample could lose functionality, and renaturation of DNA may occur but less efficiently than at optimal temperatures.

Step-by-step explanation:

When heating samples containing protein and DNA to 60°C, different responses can be expected due to their distinct physical properties. Proteins may start to denature at this temperature depending on their stability, losing their three-dimensional structure and thus their function. However, DNA has a higher melting temperature and is not likely to denature fully at 60°C; it normally requires temperatures above 80 to 90°C for complete denaturation. In a renaturation kinetic experiment, heating DNA to 100°C and cooling it to 60°C allows single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) to reanneal and form double-stranded DNA (dsDNA). Therefore, at 60°C, you could observe partial renaturation of the DNA sample. In PCR technology, the annealing of primers with their complementary DNA strands occurs around 55°C, slightly below what would be the case at 60°C, suggesting that the DNA primers may still bind to their target sequences, albeit possibly with less efficiency. To summarize, the DNA sample might start renaturing, while the protein sample could begin to lose its structure.