On the evolution of one-electron-oxidized deoxyguanosine in damaged DNA under physiological conditions: a DFT and ONIOM study on proton transfer and equilibrium

Different deprotonation paths of the radical cation formed by one-electron oxidation of 2'-deoxyguanosine (2dG) sites in DNA have been studied using Density Functional Theory (M05-2X/6-31+G(d,p)) and ONIOM methodology (M05-2X/6-31+G(d,p):PM6) in conjunction with the SMD model to include the solvent effects. Models of increased complexity have been used ranging from the isolated nucleoside to a three unit double-stranded oligomer including the sugar units, the base pairing with cytidine, and the phosphate linkage. The reported results correspond to aqueous solution, at room temperature, and pH = 7.4. Under such conditions it was found that the proton transfer (PT) within the base pair is a minor path compared to the PT between the base pair and the surrounding water. It was also found that the deprotonation of ground-state 2dG˙(+) sites mainly yields C centered radicals in the sugar unit, with the largest populations corresponding to C4'˙ and C5'˙, followed by C3'˙. The different aspects of the presented theoretical study have been validated with experimental results.     

Direct observation of guanine radical cation deprotonation in duplex DNA using pulse radiolysis

The dynamics of one-electron oxidation of guanine (G) base mononucleotide and that in DNA have been investigated by pulse radiolysis. The radical cation (G+*) of deoxyguanosine (dG), produced by oxidation with SO(4)-*, rapidly deprotonates to form the neutral G radical (G(-H)*) with a rate constant of 1.8 x 10(7) s(-1) at pH 7.0, as judged from transient spectroscopy. With experiments using different double-stranded oligonucleotides containing G, GG, and GGG sequences, the absorbance increases at 625 nm, characteristic of formation of the G(-H)*, were found to consist of two phases. The rate constants of the faster ( approximately 1.3 x 10(7) s(-1)) and slower phases ( approximately 3.0 x 10(6) s(-1)) were similar for the different oligonucleotides. On the other hand, in the oligonucleotide containing G located at the 5'- and 3'-terminal positions, only the faster phase was seen. These results suggest that the lifetime of the radical cation of the G:C base pair (GC+*), depending on its location in the DNA chain, is longer than that of free dG. In addition, the absorption spectral intermediates showed that hole transport to a specific G site within a 12-13mer double-stranded oligonucleotide is complete within 50 ns; that is, the rate of hole transport over 20 A is >10(7) s(-1).     

Effect of base sequence and deprotonation of Guanine cation radical in DNA

The deprotonation of guanine cation radical (G+*) in oligonucleotides (ODNs) was measured spectroscopically by nanosecond pulse radiolysis. The G+* in ODN, produced by oxidation with SO4-*, deprotonates to form the neutral G radical (G(-H)*). In experiments using 5-substituted cytosine-modified ODN, substitution of the cytosine C5 hydrogen by a methyl group increased the rate constant of deprotonation, whereas replacement by bromine decreased the rate constant. Kinetic solvent isotope effects on the kinetics of deoxyguanosine (dG) and ODN duplexes were examined in H2O and D2O. The rate constant of formation of G(-H)* in dG was 1.7-fold larger in H2O than D2O, whereas the rate constant in the ODN duplex was 3.8-fold larger in H2O than D2O. These results suggest that the formation of G(-H)* from G+* in the ODN corresponds to the deprotonation of the oxidized hydrogen-bridged (G+*-C) base pair by a water molecule. The characteristic absorption maxima of G+* around 400 nm were shifted to a longer wavelength in the order of G相似文献   

Independent Generation and Time‐Resolved Detection of 2′‐Deoxyguanosin‐N2‐yl Radicals

Guanine radicals are important reactive intermediates in DNA damage. Hydroxyl radical (HO^.) has long been believed to react with 2′‐deoxyguanosine (dG) generating 2′‐deoxyguanosin‐N1‐yl radical (dG(N1‐H)^.) via addition to the nucleobase π‐system and subsequent dehydration. This basic tenet was challenged by an alternative mechanism, in which the major reaction of HO^. with dG was proposed to involve hydrogen atom abstraction from the N2‐amine. The 2′‐deoxyguanosin‐N2‐yl radical (dG(N2‐H)^.) formed was proposed to rapidly tautomerize to dG(N1‐H)^.. We report the first independent generation of dG(N2‐H)^. in high yield via photolysis of 1 . dG(N2‐H)^. is directly observed upon nanosecond laser flash photolysis (LFP) of 1 . The absorption spectrum of dG(N2‐H)^. is corroborated by DFT studies, and anti‐ and syn‐dG(N2‐H)^. are resolved for the first time. The LFP experiments showed no evidence for tautomerization of dG(N2‐H)^. to dG(N1‐H)^. within hundreds of microseconds. This observation suggests that the generation of dG(N1‐H)^. via dG(N2‐H)^. following hydrogen atom abstraction from dG is unlikely to be a major pathway when HO^. reacts with dG.     

Independent Generation and Time-Resolved Detection of 2′-Deoxyguanosin-N2-yl Radicals

Guanine radicals are important reactive intermediates in DNA damage. Hydroxyl radical (HO^.) has long been believed to react with 2′-deoxyguanosine (dG) generating 2′-deoxyguanosin-N1-yl radical (dG(N1-H)^.) via addition to the nucleobase π-system and subsequent dehydration. This basic tenet was challenged by an alternative mechanism, in which the major reaction of HO^. with dG was proposed to involve hydrogen atom abstraction from the N2-amine. The 2′-deoxyguanosin-N2-yl radical (dG(N2-H)^.) formed was proposed to rapidly tautomerize to dG(N1-H)^.. We report the first independent generation of dG(N2-H)^. in high yield via photolysis of 1 . dG(N2-H)^. is directly observed upon nanosecond laser flash photolysis (LFP) of 1 . The absorption spectrum of dG(N2-H)^. is corroborated by DFT studies, and anti- and syn-dG(N2-H)^. are resolved for the first time. The LFP experiments showed no evidence for tautomerization of dG(N2-H)^. to dG(N1-H)^. within hundreds of microseconds. This observation suggests that the generation of dG(N1-H)^. via dG(N2-H)^. following hydrogen atom abstraction from dG is unlikely to be a major pathway when HO^. reacts with dG.     

Excess electron transfer from an internally conjugated aromatic amine to 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine in DNA

DNA duplexes containing an N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-1,5-diaminonaphthalene analogue and 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) provide a readily accessible system for investigating excess electron transfer in DNA. Photoexcitation of the aromatic amine (lambda > 335 nm) induces reductive electron transfer as observed by strand cleavage adjacent to the BrdU residue. The weak exponential distance dependence (0.3 A-1) of electron transfer determined for this system of mixed dA-T and dG-dC base pairs suggests that thermally activated electron hopping is competitive with proton transfer within the dG.dC radical anion. The UV-dependent transfer of excess electrons and subsequent strand cleavage proceeds equivalently under anaerobic and aerobic conditions and is not sensitive to e-(aq) or hydroxyl radical trapping agents.     

Electron attachment induced proton transfer in a DNA nucleoside pair: 2'-deoxyguanosine-2'-deoxycytidine

To elucidate electron attachment induced damage in the DNA double helix, electron attachment to the 2'-deoxyribonucleoside pair dG:dC has been studied with the reliably calibrated B3LYP/DZP++ theoretical approach. The exploration of the potential energy surface of the neutral and anionic dG:dC pairs predicts a positive electron affinity for dG:dC [0.83 eV for adiabatic electron affinity (EAad) and 0.16 eV for vertical electron affinity (VEA)]. The substantial increases in the electron affinity of dG:dC (by 0.50 eV for EAad and 0.23 eV for VEA) compared to those of the dC nucleoside suggest that electron attachment to DNA double helices should be energetically favored with respect to the single strands. Most importantly, electron attachment to the dC moiety in the dG:dC pair is found to be able to trigger the proton transfer in the dG:dC- pair, surprisingly resulting in the lower energy distonic anionic complex d(G-H)-:d(C+H).. The negative charge for the latter system is located on the base of dC in the dG:dC- pair, while it is transferred to d(G-H) in d(G-H)-:d(C+H)., accompanied by the proton transfer from N1(dG) to N3(dC). The low energy barrier (2.4 kcal/mol) for proton transfer from dG to dC- suggests that the distonic d(G-H)-:d(C+H). pair should be one of the important intermediates in the process of electron attachment to DNA double helices. The formation of the neutral nucleoside radical d(C+H). is predicted to be the direct result of electron attachment to the DNA double helices. Since the neutral radical d(C+H). nucleotide is the key element in the formation of this DNA lesion, electron attachment might be one of the important factors that trigger the formation of abasic sites in DNA double helices.     

Interactions of guanine and guanosine hydrates with quinones: a laser flash photolysis and magnetic field effect study

Laser flash photolysis and an external magnetic field have been used to study the interaction of two quinone molecules, namely, 9,10-anthraquinone (AQ) and 2-methyl 1,4-naphthoquinone, commonly known as menadione (MQ), with one of the DNA bases, guanine (G) and its nucleoside guanosine hydrate (dG). In organic homogeneous medium, it has been observed that G undergoes a predominant hydrogen (H) abstraction reaction with both the quinones while dG supports photoinduced electron transfer (PET) along with H abstraction. On the other hand, in SDS medium, G supports PET with AQ but not with MQ. However, behavior of dG remains unperturbed toward AQ and MQ with the change in medium. All of these observations have been explained on the basis of stabilization of radical ion pair and difference in size of the quinones, which can affect the distance of approach among the interacting molecules.     

Electron attachment to solvated dGpdG: effects of stacking on base-centered and phosphate-centered valence-bound radical anions

To explore the nature of electron attachment to guanine-centered DNA single strands in the presence of a polarizable medium, a theoretical investigation of the DNA oligomer dinucleoside phosphate deoxyguanylyl-3',5'-deoxyguanosine (dGpdG) was performed by using density functional theory. Four different electron-distribution patterns for the radical anions of dGpdG in aqueous solution have been located as local minima on the potential energy surface. The excess electron is found to reside on the proton of the phosphate group (dGp(H-)dG), or on the phosphate group (dGp(.-)dG), or on the nucleobase at the 5' position (dG(.-)pdG), or on the nucleobase at the 3' position (dGpdG(.-)), respectively. These four radical anions are all expected to be electronically viable species under the influence of the polarizable medium. The predicted energetics of the radical anions follows the order dGp(.-)dG>dG(.-)pdG>dGpdG(.-)>dGp(H-)dG. The base-base stacking pattern in DNA single strands seems unaffected by electron attachment. On the contrary, intrastrand H-bonding is greatly influenced by electron attachment, especially in the formation of base-centered radical anions. The intrastrand H-bonding patterns revealed in this study also suggest that intrastrand proton transfer might be possible between successive guanines due to electron attachment to DNA single strands.     

Chlorine substitution promotes phenyl radical loss from C8‐phenoxy‐2′‐deoxyguanosine adducts: implications for biomarker identification from chlorophenol exposure

Chlorophenols are persistent organic pollutants, which undergo peroxidase‐mediated oxidation to afford phenolic radical intermediates that react at the C8‐site of 2′‐deoxyguanosine (dG) to generate oxygen‐linked C8‐dG adducts. Such adducts are expected to contribute to chlorophenol toxicity and serve as effective dose biomarkers for chlorophenol exposure. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI‐MS) was employed to study collision induced dissociation (CID) for a family of such phenolic O‐linked C8‐dG adducts. Fragmentation of the deprotonated nucleosides demonstrates that an unexpected homolytic cleavage of the ether linkage to release phenyl radicals and a nucleoside distonic ion with m/z 281 competes effectively with commonly observed breakage of the glycosidic bond to release the deprotonated nucleobase. Increased chlorination of the phenyl ring enhances phenyl radical loss. Density functional theory calculations demonstrate that Cl‐substitution decreases phenyl radical stability but promotes homolytic breakage of the C8–phenyl bond in the C8‐dG adduct. The calculations suggest that phenyl radical loss is driven by destabilizing steric (electrostatic repulsion) interactions between the ether oxygen atom and ortho‐chlorines on the phenyl ring. The distonic ion at m/z 281 represents a unique dissociation product for deprotonated O‐linked C8‐dG adducts and may prove useful for selective detection of relevant biomarkers for chlorophenol exposure by tandem mass spectrometry using selective reaction monitoring. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A comparative photomechanistic study (spin trapping, EPR spectroscopy, transient kinetics, photoproducts) of nucleoside oxidation (dG and 8-oxodG) by triplet-excited acetophenones and by the radicals generated from alpha-oxy-substituted derivatives through Norrish-type I cleavage

The photooxidation of 2'-deoxyguanosine (dG) and its derivative 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-oxodG) by a series of acetophenones (AP-X) and benzophenone (BP) has been studied.The favorable absorption characteristics of the benzoyl chromophore enables time-resolved spectroscopy of the triplet ketones to assess their quenching kinetics by dG and 8-oxodG. Whereas the photolysis of acetophenone (AP), 2-acetoxyacetophenone (AP-OAc), and benzophenone (BP) does not produce radicals (group A ketones), the oxymethyl-substituted derivatives 2-hydroxyacetophenone (AP-OH) and 2-tert-butoxyacetophenone (AP-O(t)Bu) lead to carbon-centered radicals by alpha cleavage (group B ketones). For the latter ketones, this was confirmed by EPR studies with the spin trap 5,5-dimethylpyrroline N-oxide (DMPO) and by their triplet lifetimes that were shorter than those for the unsubstituted acetophenone. Both groups of ketones photooxidize dG and 8-oxodG; the oxidation products are spiroiminodihydantoin and guanidine-releasing products (GRP) in the case of dG and AP-OH also 8-oxodG. In the presence of O(2), the photooxidation by the group A ketones is efficient at high dG or 8-oxodG concentrations, whereas the group B ketones photooxidize dG and 8-oxodG also at low substrate concentrations. These results imply that peroxyl radicals are responsible for the photooxidation by the group B ketones, which are formed by alpha cleavage of the triplet ketone and subsequent O(2) trapping of the carbon-centered radicals. At higher dG concentrations, direct electron transfer from dG to the triplet ketone, as observed for the group A ketones, competes with the radical activity.     

Synthesis and structure of duplex DNA containing the genotoxic nucleobase lesion N7-methylguanine

The predominant product of aberrant DNA methylation is the genotoxic lesion N7-methyl-2'-deoxyguanosine (m7dG). M7dG is recognized and excised by lesion-specific DNA glycosylases, namely AlkA in E. coli and Aag in humans. Structural studies of m7dG recognition and catalysis by these enzymes have been hampered due to a lack of efficient means by which to incorporate the chemically labile m7dG moiety site-specifically into DNA on a preparative scale. Here we report a solution to this problem. We stabilized the lesion toward acid-catalyzed and glycosylase-catalyzed depurination by 2'-fluorination and toward base-catalyzed degradation using mild, nonaqueous conditions in the DNA deprotection reaction. Duplex DNA containing 2'-fluoro-m7dG (Fm7dG) cocrystallized with AlkA as a host-guest complex in which the lesion-containing segment of DNA was nearly devoid of protein contacts, thus enabling the first direct visualization of the N7-methylguanine lesion nucleobase in DNA. The structure reveals that the base-pairing mode of Fm7dG:C is nearly identical to that of G:C, and Fm7dG does not induce any apparent structural disturbance of the duplex structure. These observations suggest that AlkA and Aag must perform a structurally invasive interrogation of DNA in order to detect the presence of intrahelical m7dG lesions.     

Linear-dendritic supramolecular complexes as nanoscale reaction vessels for "green" chemistry. Diels-Alder reactions between fullerene C60 and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in aqueous medium

This study describes the first Diels-Alder (DA) reaction performed in aqueous medium with highly hydrophobic compounds-fullerene (C 60) as the dienophile and anthracene (An) or tetracene (Tet) as the dienes, respectively. The reactions are performed in nanocontainers, constructed by self-assembly of linear-dendritic amphiphilic copolymers with poly(ethylene glycol), PEG or poly(ethylene oxide), PEO as the hydrophilic blocks and poly(benzyl ether) monodendrons as the hydrophobic fragments: G3PEO13k, dG3 and dG2. Comparative studies under identical conditions are carried out with an amphiphilic linear-linear copolymer, poly(styrene)1800- block-PEO2100, PSt-PEO, and the nonionic surfactant Igepal CO-720, IP720. The binding affinity of supermolecules built of these amphiphiles toward the DA reagents decreases in the following order: G3PEO13k > dG3 > PSt-PEO > dG2 > IP720. The kinetic constant of binding is evaluated for tetracene and decreases in a similar fashion: 5 x 10 (-7) M/min (G3PEO13k), through 4 x 10 (-7) M/min (PSt-PEO) down to 1.5 x 10 (-7) M/min for IP720. The mobility of substrates encapsulated in the micellar core, estimated by pyrene fluorescence decay, is 95-121 ns for the micelles of the linear-dendritic copolymers and notably higher for PSt-PEO (152 ns), revealing the much denser interior of the linear analogue. The apparent kinetic constant for the DA reaction of C 60 and Tet within the G3PEO13k supermolecule in aqueous medium is markedly higher than in organic solvent (toluene), 208 vs 1.82 M /min. With G3PEO13k the conversions reach 49% for the DA reaction between C 60 and An, and 55% for C 60 and Tet. Besides the monoadduct (26.5% yield) the reaction with An produces exclusively increasing amounts of D 2 h -symmetric antipodal bis-adduct, whose yield reaches up to 22.5% after 48 h. In addition to the environmentally friendly conditions notable advantages of the synthetic strategy described are the extended stability of the linear-dendritic nanovessels, the easy collection of the products formed, and the recovery and reuse of unreacted reagents and linear-dendritic copolymers.     

Structure and torsional flexibility of the linkage between guanine and fluorene residues in the deoxyguanosine–aminofluorene and deoxyguanosine–acetylaminofluorene carcinogenic adducts

Potential energy surfaces for rotations around two central CN bonds in N-(deoxyguanosin-8-yl)-2-acetylaminofluorene (AAF–dG) and its deacetylated derivative (AF–dG) were studied using Amber 95 molecular mechanics. Both of these adducts are known to be strong mutagens and carcinogens. New Amber 95 force field parameters were derived for the linkage connecting guanine and fluorene moieties in AAF–dG and AF–dG. For this purpose, we determined ab initio MP2/cc-pVDZ//B3-LYP/6-31G* and polarized continuum model Hartree–Fock/6-31G* potential energy surfaces of smaller model systems that included the N-methylimidazole–acetylaniline and N-methylimidazole–aniline adducts. The molecular mechanics parameters were adjusted to minimize differences between the gas-phase ab initio and molecular mechanics surfaces of these model systems. The resulting parameters were transferred to AF–dG and AAF–dG. The barrier for the rotation of the fluorene residue in AF–dG was found to be less than 2 kcal/mol. Such a small barrier renders the fluorene moiety freely rotatable at room temperature. In contrast, the fluorene rotation in AAF–dG is hindered by a significantly larger barrier of 10 kcal/mol. This barrier corresponds to conformations in which the fluorene and acetyl groups lie in the same plane, and is largely due to steric repulsion. Similarly, the coplanar arrangement of guanine and the bridging amino or acetyl groups is disfavored by 5–10 kcal/mol, with AAF–dG again being the more rigid of the two molecules. Energy minima for a rotation around a bond between guanine and the bridging nitrogen are found at ±80° in AAF–dG, and at 120° and –90° for AF–dG. Overall, the fluorene–dG linkages in AF–dG and AAF–dG adducts have significantly different equilibrium structures and torsional flexibilities. These differences may be contributing factors for the observed disparity in mutagenic effects of these adducts.Electronic Supplementary Material: Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at Acknowledgements. This work was supported by the NSF REU grant no. CHE-0243825 to Loyola University Chicago. We thank to Tom Ellenberger and Shuchismita Dutta for providing us with their results prior to publication.     

Effects of Bases on the Stabilities of Nucleoside C4'''' Radicals

C4'-H bond dissociation enthalpies of nucleosides were predicted using theoretical methods to a precision of 1-2 Kcal/mol. It was found that the stability of the C4' nucleoside radical is slightly dependent on the base. The orders of stability are dA < dG < dT < dC for deoxynucleosides and U < G < A = C for nucleosides.     

N(2)-phenyldeoxyguanosine: modulation of the chemical properties of deoxyguanosine toward one-electron oxidation in DNA

We have shown here that (1) substitution of an exocyclic amino group of dG is effective in modulating the chemical properties of dG toward one-electron oxidation and (2) decomposition of the guanine radical cation was effectively suppressed near dPhG. These results indicate that dPhG is a prototype of nucleosides functioning as an intrinsic antioxidant of duplex DNA toward one-electron oxidation.     

Facile interstrand migration of the hydrocarbon moiety of a dibenzo[a,l]pyrene 11,12-diol 13,14-epoxide adduct at N2 of deoxyguanosine in a duplex oligonucleotide

When a synthesized deoxyribonucleotide duplex, 5'-CCATCGCTACC-3'.5'-GGTAGCGATGG-3', containing a trans 14R dibenzo[a,l]pyrene (DB[a,l]P) adduct, corresponding to trans opening of the (+)-(11S,12R)-diol (13R,14S)-epoxide by N (2) of the central G residue, was allowed to stand for 2-6 days at ambient temperature in neutral aqueous solution, three new products were observed on denaturing HPLC. One of these corresponded to loss of the DB[a,l]P moiety from the original adducted strand to give an 11-mer with an unmodified central dG. The other two products resulted from a highly unexpected migration of the hydrocarbon moiety to either dG5 or dG7 of the complementary strand, 5'-GGTAG5CG7ATGG-3'. Enzymatic hydrolysis of the two 11-mer migration products followed by CD spectroscopy of the isolated adducted nucleosides indicated that, in both cases, the hydrocarbon moiety had undergone configurational inversion at C14 to give the cis 14S DB[a,l]P dG adduct. MS/MS and partial enzymatic hydrolysis showed that the major 11-mer had the hydrocarbon at dG7. Two 11-mer oligonucleotides were synthesized with a single cis 14S DB[a,l]P dG adduct either at G7 or at G5 and were found to be chromatographically identical to the major and minor migration products, respectively. Although HPLC evidence suggested that a small extent of hydrocarbon migration from the trans 14S DB[a,l]P dG diastereomer also occurred, the very small amount of presumed migration products from this isomer precluded their detailed characterization. This interstrand migration appears unique to DB[a,l]P adducts and has not been observed for their fjord-region benzo[c]phenanthrene or bay-region benzo[a]pyrene analogues.     

Electron Attachment to Solvated dGpdG: Effects of Stacking on Base‐Centered and Phosphate‐Centered Valence‐Bound Radical Anions

To explore the nature of electron attachment to guanine‐centered DNA single strands in the presence of a polarizable medium, a theoretical investigation of the DNA oligomer dinucleoside phosphate deoxyguanylyl‐3′,5′‐deoxyguanosine (dGpdG) was performed by using density functional theory. Four different electron‐distribution patterns for the radical anions of dGpdG in aqueous solution have been located as local minima on the potential energy surface. The excess electron is found to reside on the proton of the phosphate group (dGp^H?dG), or on the phosphate group (dGp^.?dG), or on the nucleobase at the 5′ position (dG^.?pdG), or on the nucleobase at the 3′ position (dGpdG^.?), respectively. These four radical anions are all expected to be electronically viable species under the influence of the polarizable medium. The predicted energetics of the radical anions follows the order dGp^.?dG>dG^.?pdG>dGpdG^.?>dGp^H?dG. The base–base stacking pattern in DNA single strands seems unaffected by electron attachment. On the contrary, intrastrand H‐bonding is greatly influenced by electron attachment, especially in the formation of base‐centered radical anions. The intrastrand H‐bonding patterns revealed in this study also suggest that intrastrand proton transfer might be possible between successive guanines due to electron attachment to DNA single strands.     

Photoinduced electron transfer and geminate recombination for photoexcited acceptors in a pure donor solvent

Photoinduced electron transfer and geminate recombination are studied for the systems rhodamine 3B (R3B(+)) and rhodamine 6G (R6G(+)), which are cations, in neat neutral N,N-dimethylaniline (DMA). Following photoexcitation of R3B(+) or R6G(+) (abbreviated as R(+)), an electron is transferred from DMA to give the neutral radical R and the cation DMA(+). Because the DMA hole acceptor is the neat solvent, the forward transfer rate is very large, approximately 5x10(12) s(-1). The forward transfer is followed by geminate recombination, which displays a long-lived component suggesting several percent of the radicals escape geminate recombination. Spectrally resolved pump-probe experiments are used in which the probe is a "white" light continuum, and the full time-dependent spectrum is recorded with a spectrometer/charge-coupled device. Observations of stimulated emission (excited state decay-forward electron transfer), the R neutral radical spectrum, and the DMA(+) radical cation spectrum as well as the ground-state bleach recovery (geminate recombination) make it possible to unambiguously follow the electron transfer kinetics. Theoretical modeling shows that the long-lived component can be explained without invoking hole hopping or spin-forbidden transitions.     

Ochratoxin a forms a carbon-bonded c8-deoxyguanosine nucleoside adduct: implications for c8 reactivity by a phenolic radical

The ability of the carcinogenic fungal toxin Ochratoxin A (OTA, 1) to react with deoxyguanosine (dG) has been assessed using electrospray mass spectrometry and NMR. Photoexcitation of OTA (100 muM) in the presence of 50 mol equiv of dG led to the isolation and identification of the C8-deoxyguanosine nucleoside adduct 4. Importantly, the same adduct was formed upon oxidative activation of OTA using horseradish peroxidase (HRP)/H2O2 or the transition metals Fe(II) and Cu(II), as evidenced by mass spectrometry. Because the mutagenicity and subsequent carcinogenicity of OTA are believed to stem from oxidative DNA damage (strand scission and oxidative base products) and formation of guanine-specific DNA adducts, the adduct 4 confirms the ability of OTA to react covalently with dG and has important implications for the mechanism of action of OTA and other chlorophenolic toxins that undergo oxidation to yield phenoxyl radicals. The C8 position of dG is susceptible to radical attack, as was amply proven through formation of the hydroxyl radical-derived DNA lesion, 8-oxodeoxyguanosine. The adduct 4 is the first structurally characterized nucleoside adduct of a chlorophenolic toxin, and its formation has important implications for the mutagenicity of phenolic xenobiotics.