title: Osmium tetroxide reactivity of DNA bases in nucleotide sequencing and probing of DNA structure.
abstract: Osmium tetroxide, 2,2'-bipyridine (Os,bipy) has been widely applied as a probe of the DNA structure. To obtain information about reactivity of DNA bases toward this probe synthetic homopolynucleotides poly(dT), poly(dC), poly(dG) and poly(dA) were treated with Os,bipy and the content of modified bases measured by stripping voltammetry and absorption spectrophotometry. After 20 hours' treatment strong modification of poly(dT) and poly(dC) and weak modification of poly(dG) were observed, while no modification was detected in poly(dA). At short incubation times under conditions close to those usually used in probing the DNA structure the extent of poly(dT) modification was more than 10 times higher than that of poly(dC). Thus, in single-stranded DNA Os,bipy reacts with T much greater than C and G. Due to the fast reaction of thymines with Os,bipy (and osmium tetroxide, pyridine) these chemicals can be applied in Maxam-Gilbert nucleotide sequencing as agents specific for thymines in single-stranded DNA.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biophysics, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Brno.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jelen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Karlovský
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Makaturová
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pecinka
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Palecek
mesh_terms: D015082:2,2'-Dipyridyl; D001483:Base Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded / Q000737:chemistry; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D009993:Osmium Tetroxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D010880:Piperidines / Q000737:chemistry; D011061:Poly A / Q000737:chemistry; D011066:Poly C / Q000737:chemistry; D011068:Poly G / Q000737:chemistry; D011071:Poly T / Q000737:chemistry; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D013941:Thymine / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded; D010880:Piperidines; D011061:Poly A; D011071:Poly T; D011068:Poly G; C015465:poly(dA); C023826:poly(dC); C026628:poly(dG); D011066:Poly C; D015082:2,2'-Dipyridyl; C032727:piperidine; D004247:DNA; D009993:Osmium Tetroxide; D013941:Thymine