26 Bulge Loops
26.1 Folding Free Energy Change
Singe Nucleotide Bulge Loops
The prediction of folding free energy changes is made with the following equation:
ΔG°37 bulge (n=1) = ΔG°37 bulge initiation(n) + ΔG°37 (base pair stack) – RT ln(number of states)
In this equation, n is the number of unpaired nucleotides, the base pair stack is the stack of the closing pairs as though there is no bulge (using Watson-Crick-Franklin rules as needed), and the number of states counts the number of possible loops of identical sequence.
Bulges of 2 or More Nucleotides
For bulges of 2 or more nucleotides, the following equation is used:
ΔG°37 bulge (n>1) = ΔG°37 bulge initiation(n)
Experimentally-derived parameters are available for initiation up to n = 3 and a linear extrapolation is used up to n = 6. Beyond 6, the initiation is approximated using a logarithmic function:
ΔG°37 bulge (n>6) = ΔG°37 bulge initiation(6) + 1.75 RT ln(n/6)
where R is the gas constant and T is the absolute temperature, 310.15 K.
26.2 Folding Enthalpy Change
Singe Nucleotide bulge Loops
The prediction of folding free energy changes is made with the following equation:
ΔH°bulge (n=1) = ΔH°bulge initiation(n) + ΔH°(base pair stack)
In this equation, n is the number of unpaired nucleotides and the base pair stack is the stack of the closing pairs as though there is no bulge (using Watson-Crick-Franklin rules as needed).
Because the helical stack continues across a single nucleotide bulge, the terminal AT penalty is not applied adjacent to single bulges.
Bulges of 2 or More Nucleotides
For bulges of 2 or more nucleotides, the following equation is used:
ΔH°bulge (n>1) = ΔH°bulge initiation(n)
Experimentally-derived parameters are available for bulge loop initiations up to n = 3. For n > 3, the initiation is approximated as that for n = 3.
26.3 Examples
Single C bulge with multiple states
ΔG°37 = ΔG°37(Watson-Crick-Franklin Helix) + ΔG°37 intermolecular initiation + ΔG°37(Bulge Loop)
ΔG°37 = ΔG°37(GC followed by CG) + ΔG°37(CG followed by CG) + ΔG°37 intermolecular initiation + ΔG°37 bulge initiation(1) + ΔG°37(CG followed by GC) – RTln(3)
ΔG°37 = -2.2 kcal/mol -1.8 kcal/mol + 1.0 kcal/mol + 2.9 kcal/mol -2.2 kcal/mol - 0.616×1.099 kcal/mol
ΔG°37 = -2.98 kcal/mol
ΔH° = ΔH°(Watson-Crick-Franklin Helix) + ΔH°intermolecular initiation + ΔH°(Bulge Loop)
ΔH° = ΔH°(GC followed by CG) + ΔH°(CG followed by CG) + ΔH°intermolecular initiation + ΔH°bulge initiation(1) + ΔH°(CG followed by GC)
ΔH° = -7.9 kcal/mol - 7.5 kcal/mol - 7.2 kcal/mol + 18.9 kcal/mol - 9.8 kcal/mol
ΔH° = -13.5 kcal/mol
Note that this loop has three available states because any of the three Cs in the top strand can be the bulge.
3 nucleotide bulge
ΔG°37 = ΔG°37(Watson-Crick-Franklin Helix) + ΔG°37 intermolecular initiation + ΔG°37(Bulge Loop)
ΔG°37 = ΔG°37(GC followed by AT) + ΔG°37 intermolecular initiation + ΔG°37 bulge initiation(3)
ΔG°37 = -1.3 kcal/mol + 1.0 kcal/mol + 2.5 kcal/mol
ΔG°37 = 2.2 kcal/mol
ΔH° = ΔH°(Watson-Crick-Franklin Helix) + ΔH°intermolecular initiation + ΔH°AT end penalty + ΔH°(Bulge Loop)
ΔH° = ΔH°(GC followed by AT) + ΔH°intermolecular initiation + ΔH°AT end penalty + ΔH°bulge initiation(3)
ΔH° = -8.5 kcal/mol - 7.2 kcal/mol + 3.2 kcal/mol - 2.3 kcal/mol
ΔH° = -14.8 kcal/mol
26.4 Parameter Tables
Bulge loop parameters are available in plain text for initiation free energy parameters or initiation enthalpy parameters. The plain text initiation parameters include an extrapolation out to lengths of 30 unpaired nucleotides.