Modulation of ascorbic acid-induced DNA cleavage by polyamide: cleavage manner, kinetics and mechanism

Curr Med Chem. 2012;19(6):921-6. doi: 10.2174/092986712799034860.

Abstract

Manipulation of DNA presents a great interest in biotechnology and therapeutics. The molecules that damage DNA selectively offer new prospects for controlled manipulation of DNA. The conjugations of DNA-code reading molecules such as polyamides to reagents that induce DNA damages provide an approach to reach this goal. In this work, a new compound which contained polyamide and ascorbic acid conjugated by flexible linker (polyamide-Vc), was successfully synthesized, characterized, and evaluated as DNA cleavage agent, compared with that by using ascorbic acid molecule. The kinetics data showed that polyamide-Vc successfully promoted the cleavage of plasmid DNA, with k(max) of 0.314 h(-1) and K(d) of 0.105 mM. The evaluation of DNA linearization elicited that the activity of cleaving double-strand in the supercoiled pUC18 plasmid DNA by polyamide-Vc was enhanced remarkably, achieving n1/n2 ratio of 13.9 at 1.2 mM for 1 h. The introduction of polyamide to Vc could also partially weaken the inhibition of hydrogen radical to double-strand cleavage process because of its good binding activity to DNA. We anticipate that this work could provide a method for improving the efficiency of double-strand cleavage, especially to oxidative cleavage agents.

MeSH terms

  • Ascorbic Acid / chemistry
  • Ascorbic Acid / pharmacology*
  • DNA Cleavage / drug effects*
  • Hydroxyl Radical / metabolism
  • Kinetics
  • Nylons / chemistry
  • Nylons / pharmacology*
  • Plasmids
  • Singlet Oxygen / metabolism

Substances

  • Nylons
  • Singlet Oxygen
  • Hydroxyl Radical
  • Ascorbic Acid