Thermal conductivity measurements of tRNA melting process

Abstract In this paper we present investigations of the structural changes of the transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) from Escherichia coli . The measurements were performed by the thermal conductivity technique previously used to study DNA melting process (M. Tuliszka and F. Jaroszyk, Thermochim. Acta, 194 (1992) 67). The paper provides the results of temperature measurements of the thermal conductivity coefficient of tRNA solution in (a) 0.001 M MgCl 2 and (b) in 0.01 M cacodylic acid + sodium cacodylate buffer and 0.001 M EDTA. The results obtained are interpreted on the basis of results of DSC measurements obtained by other authors. The results show the possibility of application of the thermal conductivity method to the investigation of the tRNA molecule's conformational changes in solutions.