Hopping along DNA
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Correspondence: William Wells wells@biotext.com
Genome Biology 2000, 1:spotlight-20000713-02 doi:10.1186/gb-spotlight-20000713-02
The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at:
| Published: | 13 July 2000 |
© 2000 BioMed Central Ltd
Research news
Oxidative damage yields isolated electrons and their corresponding 'holes' that can migrate along DNA. In the 6 July Nature Lewis et al. determine rate constants of ~5x107 s-1 and 5x106 s-1, respectively, for forward and return hole transport from a single guanine base to a double guanine base across a single adenine (Nature 2000, 406:51-53). These rates mean that electrons do not linger long enough to participate in strand-cleavage reactions. But the electrons move too slowly to avoid charge recombination, so DNA cannot act as a useful molecular wire.
References
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[http://www.nature.com/nature/] webcite
Nature