What is the effect of 5-bromouracil in DNA structure?

5-Bromouracil (BrU) is a base analogue of thymine (T) which can be incorporated into DNA. It is a well-known mutagen, causing transition mutations by mispairing with guanine (G) rather than pairing with adenine (A) during replication.

What does 5-bromouracil bind to?

Since 5-bromouracil can pair with either adenine or guanine, it also affects base pairing during DNA replication, which leads to mutations.

What type of mutation does 5-bromouracil cause?

transition mutation
5-bromouracil replace thymine with cytosine thereby, causes the transition mutation.

Is 5-bromouracil mutagenic agent?

It is used mainly as an experimental mutagen, but its deoxyriboside derivative (5-bromo-2-deoxy-uridine) is used to treat neoplasms.

Is 5-bromouracil spontaneous?

These are spontaneous mutations.

How do intercalating agents cause mutations?

Intercalating Agents Insertion of these agents distorts the DNA double helix, thereby interfering with DNA replication, transcription, and repair. Such DNA distortions often result in mutations, so intercalating agents are also mutagens.

What are tautomeric shifts?

The spontaneous isomerization of a nitrogen base to an alternative hydrogen-bonding form, possibly resulting in a mutation. Reversible shifts of proton position in a molecule. bases in nucleic acids shift between keto and enol forms or between amino and imino forms.

What is a thymine dimer?

Cyclobuthane thymine dimer is a photolesion produced by UV radiation in sunlight and is considered as a potential factor causing skin cancer. It is formed as a covalently bonded complex of two adjacent thymines on a single strand of DNA.

What is the rate of spontaneous mutation?

The spontaneous mutation rate between species varies from μ = 4.4 × 10−10 to 9.8 × 10−10 mutations per nucleotide per generation. Within genomes, there is a two-fold increase of the mutation rate in intergenic regions, consistent with an optimization of mismatch and transcription-coupled DNA repair in coding sequences.

Is mutation predestined?

Mutations are the ultimate source of all genetic variations and without which all the genes could exist in only one form. Hence, the correct option is a) Mutation is predestined.

What do intercalating agents do?

A substance that inserts itself into the DNA structure of a cell and binds to the DNA. This causes DNA damage. In cancer treatment, DNA intercalating agents may kill cancer cells by damaging their DNA and stopping them from dividing.

How does ethidium bromide make DNA visible?

Ethidium bromide is known as an intercalate agent as it inserts itself between the stacked bases of DNA. The ring structure of ethidium bromide resembles the rings of DNA bases and it is also hydrophobic. Ethidium bromide is fluorescent and is visible under UV light. This allows DNA to be visualized.