Sequence dependence of electron-induced DNA strand breakage revealed by DNA nanoarrays.

ABSTRACT: The electronic structure of DNA is determined by its nucleotide sequence, which is for instance exploited in molecular electronics. Here we demonstrate that also the DNA strand breakage induced by low-energy electrons (18 eV) depends on the nucleotide sequence. To determine the absolute cross sections for electron induced single strand breaks in specific 13 mer oligonucleotides we used atomic force microscopy analysis of DNA origami based DNA nanoarrays. We investigated the DNA sequences 5'-TT(XYX)3TT with X = A, G, C and Y = T, BrU 5-bromouracil and found absolute strand break cross sections between 2.66 · 10(-14) cm(2) and 7.06 · 10(-14) cm(2). The highest cross section was found for 5'-TT(ATA)3TT and 5'-TT(ABrUA)3TT, respectively. BrU is a radiosensitizer, which was discussed to be used

SUBMITTER: Keller A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4260214 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature