pal·in·drome (p l  n-dr m )n. A segment of double-stranded DNA in which the nucleotide sequence of one strand reads in reverse order to that of the complementary strand. pal in·dromic (-drmk, -dr mk) adj. |
palindrome
[pal′indrōm′]
Etymology: Gk, palin + dromos, course
a segment of DNA in which identical or almost identical sequences of bases run in opposite directions of the complementary strands. Palindromes are often sites for attack by restriction endonucleases.
palindrome
literally, something that reads the same backwards as forwards. In nucleic acid biochemistry palindromic sequences of 4 to 10 or more base pairs occur not infrequently. These are of interest because they are recognition sites for cleavage by restriction endonuclease enzymes; responsible for secondary structures in nucleic acids such as the folding of RNA molecules or the hairpin structures found at the termini of the single-stranded DNA genome of parvoviruses.
interrupted palindrome
restriction enzymes such as BglI recognize sequences which are interrupted palindromes, e.g. GCNNN↓NGGC where N is any nucleotide.
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