Binuclear ruthenium complex linker length tunes DNA threading intercalation kinetics.

ABSTRACT: Binuclear ruthenium complexes have been investigated for potential DNA-targeted therapeutic and diagnostic applications. Studies of DNA threading intercalation, in which DNA basepairs must be broken for intercalation, have revealed means of optimizing a model binuclear ruthenium complex to obtain reversible DNA-ligand assemblies with the desired properties of high affinity and slow kinetics. Here, we used single-molecule force spectroscopy to study a binuclear ruthenium complex with a longer semirigid linker relative to the model complex. Equilibrium results suggest a DNA affinity that is an order of magnitude higher than the parent binuclear ruthenium complex, likely due to a sterically relieved DNA threading intercalation mechanism. Notably, kinetics analysis shows that less DNA elongati

SUBMITTER: Almaqwashi AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11900151 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature