Effect of minor groove binders on long range charge migration through DNA

ORGN 304

Lezah W. Roberts and Gary B. Schuster. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, 770 State Street, Atlanta, GA 30332
The study of long range charge propagation through DNA has been studied extensively to determine the mechanism of charge migration and oxidative damage on DNA as well as its possible applications for molecular electronics. Photosensitizers, linked to the 5' terminus of a DNA strand, are used to inject a charge into the DNA. When this charge reaches a site of low oxidation potential the charge becomes trapped and treatment with base causes strand cleavage. DNA minor groove binders have been studied over the last three decades as possible drug candidates and their specificity and binding properties have been determined. Herein we report the effect of minor groove binders on long range charge transfer through DNA duplexes containing ligand binding sites as well as without binding sites. The results of these experiments will be presented in this poster.