title: A solvent-partition method for measuring the binding of drugs to DNA. Application to the quinoxaline antibiotics echinomycin and triostin A.
abstract: The development of a novel solvent-partition method for measuring the interaction between nucleic acids and drugs of limited water solubility is described. Factors relevant to the choice of a suitable water-immiscible solvent are summarised. i-Amyl acetate was selected for studying the binding of echinomycin and triostin A to DNA. Details of the experimental determination of extinction and partition coefficients are given; in the i-amyl acetate/buffer system employed for most experiments, the partition coefficients for echinomycin and triostin A were 111 +/- 4 and 943 +/- 23, respectively. Equilibration of echinomycin between the organic and aqueous phases was 90% complete within a few minutes, and a period of 2 h shaking was found satisfactory to ensure full attainment of equilibrium. Representative results are presented showing specific binding of the quinoxaline antibiotics to DNA, strong preference for double-helical as opposed to heat-denatured or single-stranded DNA, and restricted uptake by closed circular duplex PM2 DNA. The method is potentially applicable, with appropriate modifications, to the study of interactions between other ligands and DNA.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001665:Binding Sites; D002417:Cattle; D004247:DNA; D004448:Echinomycin; D007700:Kinetics; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D011810:Quinoxalines; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D013950:Thymus Gland
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D011810:Quinoxalines; D004448:Echinomycin; D004247:DNA