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Morindone, an Anthraquinone, Intercalates DNA Sans Toxicity: a Spectroscopic and Molecular Modeling Perspective

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Abstract

For the first time, interaction between non-toxic anthraquinone morindone with both natural and synthetic DNA duplexes has been demonstrated in this paper. Detailed analyses of the binding of morindone with DNA via UV–vis, FTIR, and circular dichroism spectroscopies were carried out. In addition, bioinformatics tools have been employed to scrutinize the binding of the dye with DNA in silico. Results represent morindone to be a better binder with a score of −5.79 compared to EtBr (known mutagenic intercalator) recorded at −5.02. Further interaction is accentuated by the microscope-assisted evidence of nuclear specific staining of tissues by morindone. The electrophoretic analysis reveals the efficacy endowed within morindone dye in rendering protection to DNA exposed to H2O2 damage and thereby conferring it safe to the nucleic acid. As DNA is often the target for majority of anticancer and antibiotic drugs, study on the interaction between molecules like morindone and DNA has relevance and implications in several biological applications including cancer therapy. Thus, we propose that morindone can also be harnessed as a diagnostic probe for DNA structure in addition to DNA-directed therapeutics.

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Acknowledgments

We express our sincere gratitude to the support extended by CSIR, New Delhi, India through the means of the sanctioned project [37(1451)/10/EMR-II]. The authors are grateful to VIT University management for their constant support. We thank Professor G. Jayaraman for his critical suggestions regarding the CD analysis. Thanks to Dr. A. Ramakrishna for chemical characterization of morindone. The authors thank Dr. Anand Prem Rajan for his immaculate help in the histological analyses.

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The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

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  1. School of Bio Sciences and Technology, VIT University, Vellore, 632014, Tamil Nadu, India

    Dipita Bhakta & Ramamoorthy Siva

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  1. Dipita Bhakta
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  2. Ramamoorthy Siva
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Correspondence to Ramamoorthy Siva.

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Bhakta, D., Siva, R. Morindone, an Anthraquinone, Intercalates DNA Sans Toxicity: a Spectroscopic and Molecular Modeling Perspective. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 167, 885–896 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-012-9744-2

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