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ULTRAVIOLET IRRADIATION OF NUCLEIC ACIDS COMPLEXED WITH HEAVY ATOMS—III. INFLUENCE OF Ag + AND Hg 2+ ON THE SENSITIVITY OF PHAGE AND OF TRANSFORMING DNA TO ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
Author(s) -
Rahn R. O.,
Setlow J. K.,
Landry L. C.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
photochemistry and photobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.818
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1751-1097
pISSN - 0031-8655
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-1097.1973.tb06390.x
Subject(s) - photobiology , nucleic acid , thymine , ultraviolet , chemistry , photochemistry , dna , irradiation , metal ions in aqueous solution , bacteriophage , metal , radiochemistry , biochemistry , materials science , escherichia coli , biology , organic chemistry , botany , physics , optoelectronics , gene , nuclear physics
— We have studied the influence of the heavy metal ions Ag + and Hg 2+ on the photoinactivation and photodimerization of transforming DNA and of bacteriophage. The rate of inactivation of Haemophilus influenzae transforming DNA by ultraviolet (UV) radiation was enhanced by a factor of 30 when it was complexed with Ag + . This enhancement was correlated with a comparable increase in the rate of thymine dimerization. In contrast, mercuric ions led to a reduction in the rates of both inactivation and dimerization. When we examined the effects of these metal ions on the photobiology of bacteriophage, we again found that Ag + enhanced and Hg 2+ reduced the rate of ultraviolet inactivation. These results demonstrate that heavy metals may be useful tools for studying the photochemistry and photobiology of nucleic acids.