Electron Addition to Thymine Dimers and Related Compounds: A Mimic of Natural Repair

Autor: Paul F. Heelis, Ian D. Podmore, Abbas Pezeshk, Martyn C. R. Symons
Rok vydání: 1996
Předmět:
Zdroj: The Journal of Physical Chemistry. 100:19714-19718
ISSN: 1541-5740
0022-3654
DOI: 10.1021/jp962196o
Popis: Solar UV light can be dangerous to cellular systems. One manifestation of this is the formation of thymine dimers, containing cyclobutane rings, in suitable regions of duplex DNA. Fortunately, these dangerous defects are rapidly recognized by a number of DNA repair enzymes, including the photolyase enzymes, whose activity is also triggered by the sun's rays. This is thought to result in rapid electron transfer from the excited chromophores therein, to the pyrimidine dimer, resulting in opening of the cyclobutane ring. The electron then moves back, reconstituting the enzyme and the two pyrimidine monomer units. In an attempt to mimic this process in the absence of the enzyme, we have added radiation-generated electrons to thymine and uracil dimers at 77 K and used EPR spectroscopy to study the initial products. The results show that for trans-syn-1,3-dimethyluracil dimer, a long-lived dimer radical anion is formed, the electron being confined to one of the uracil units. On annealing, this was converted irr...
Databáze: OpenAIRE