In order to obtain the energy deposition pattern of ionizing radiation in the nanometric scale of genetic material and to investigate the different sensitivities of the DNA conformations, direct effects of (60)Co gamma rays on the three A, B and Z conformations of DNA have been studied. For this purpose, single-strand breaks (SSB), double-strand breaks (DSB), base damage (BD), hit probabilities and three microdosimetry quantities (imparted energy, mean chord length and lineal energy) in the mentioned DNA conformations have been calculated and compared by using GEometry ANd Tracking 4 (Geant4) toolkit. The results show that A-, B- and Z-DNA conformations have the highest yields of DSB (1.2 Gy(-1) Gbp(-1)), SSB (25.2 Gy(-1) Gbp(-1)) and BD (4.81 Gy(-1) Gbp(-1)), respectively. Based on the investigation of direct effects of radiation, it can be concluded that the DSB yield is largely correlated to the topological characteristics of DNA models, although the SSB yield is not. Moreover, according to the comparative results of the present study, a reliable candidate parameter for describing the relationship between DNA damage yields and geometry of DNA models in the theoretical radiation biology research studies would be the mean chord length (4 V/S) of the models.
Keywords: 60Co gamma rays; A-DNA; B-DNA; Direct effects; Geant4-DNA; Microdosimetry; Z-DNA.