Hematoporphyrin-induced photo-oxidation and photodynamic cross-linking of nucleic acids and their constituents

Abstract

The pH-dependency of photo-oxidation of the physiological purine and pyrimidine bases and some of their derivatives was studied, with hematoporphyrin as sensitizer. At high pH these bases (adenine, guanine, uracil, thymine and cytosine) were photo-oxidizable. In the physiological pH range only guanine, and to a much less extent thymine, were sensitive to photo-oxidation. At physiological pH values a slow photo-oxidation of RNA and DNA took place. The photo-oxidation of nuclei acids was strongly augmented by perturbation of their structure in 8 M urea. In model experiments photodynamic cross-linking of tryptophan and cysteine to DNA was demonstrated. No covalent binding of purine or pyrimidine bases to DNA was observed. In similar model experiments covalent photodynamic coupling of guanosine and guanosine-monophosphate to proteins could be shown, whereas no coupling of the other bases occured. These studies confirm the preferential photo-oxidation of guanine in nucleic acids and demonstrate the possible photodynamic cross-linking of proteins to the guanine moiety in other molecules.