Photosensitized splitting of pyrimidine dimers by indole derivatives and by tryptophan-containing oligopeptides and proteins.

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Abstract— Indole derivatives including tryptophan can be used as photosensitizers of the splitting of pyrimidine dimers. The reaction can take place in frozen aqueous solutions as well as in fluid medium. Electron transfer from the indole ring to the dimer appears to be involved in the photosensitized reaction. Solvated electrons produced by flash photolysis in the presence of indoles or by pulse radiolysis are also able to split thymine dimers.The splitting of pyrimidine dimers in DNA can be photosensitized by indole derivatives such as serotonin and by tryptophan‐containing oligopeptides. Several methods including fluorescence and nuclear magnetic resonance have been used to show that the indole ring of these oligopeptides is able to stack with bases in nucleic acids. These stacked complexes are involved in the photosensitized reaction.The splitting of pyrimidine dimers in DNA has also been photosensitized by the protein coded by gene 32 of phage T4 which binds strongly and cooperatively to single‐stranded DNA. The mechanism of the splitting reaction as well as the possible use of this reaction to investigate the role of tryptophan residues in the binding of proteins to nucleic acids are discussed.