Abstract
The action of 1,10-phenanthroline-copper complex under aerobic conditions in the presence of 2-mercaptoethanol on chromatin DNA in murine thymocyte nuclei was studied. At limited oxygen supply primarily multiple single-strand breaks of DNA in the spacer segments are observed while the core DNA segments in chromatin remain intact. After the single-strand breaks accumulate in both DNA strands (under conditions of improved oxygen supply), double-strand cleavage of DNA to fragments of nucleosomal size becomes apparent. This regular character of DNA degradation in chromatin is apparently due to the preferential binding of the 1,10-phenanthroline-copper complex to DNA of the spacer segments and to the localized generation of damaging radicals.
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Abbreviations
- OP:
-
1,10-phenanthroline
- OP-Cu:
-
1,10-phenanthroline-copper complex
- PAGE:
-
polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis
- SDS:
-
sodium dodecylsulphate
- 2-ME:
-
2-mercaptoethanol
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Skalka, M., Čejková, M. DNA cleavage in chromatin spacer segments by a non-enzymic probe, 1,10-phenanthroline-copper complex. Mol Biol Rep 10, 163–168 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00778523
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00778523