https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2005-00204-8
Microarray technology for the study of DNA damage by low-energy electrons
1
Free University Berlin, Institute of Chemistry, Theoretical and Physical
Chemistry,
Takustrasse 3, 14195 Berlin, Germany
2
Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics,
Department of Vertebrate
Genomics, Ihnestrasse 63-73, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Corresponding author: a solomun@chemie.fu-berlin.de
Received:
28
April
2005
Published online:
26
July
2005
The damage induced to a model DNA (dT immobilized on a gold surface
by the interaction of low-energy (1 eV) electrons was studied by means of
microarray technology. High quality single-stranded DNA arrays were
hybridized with a dye-marked complementary strand after irradiation with
electrons and the normalized fluorescence data were used to quantify the DNA
damage. The data clearly show the sensitivity of the method. A significant
loss of genetic information was already observed at dose as low as few
hundred of electrons per immobilized oligonucleotide. The results imply that
single stranded DNA and RNA are appreciably more sensitive to radiation and
the attack of secondary electrons during replication, transcription or
translation stages than the current radiation damage models envisage.
PACS: 34.80.Ht – Dissociation and dissociative attachment by electron impact / 34.80.Lx – Electron-ion recombination and electron attachment / 87.14.Gg – DNA, RNA
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2005