title: Damage by visible light to the acridine orange--DNA complex.
abstract: Salmon DNA has been irradiated with visible light in the presence of acridine orange. If the dye is bound to the DNA, there results: (a) a decrease in sedimentation coefficient, (b) a lowering of viscosity, and (c) a decrease in the thermal denaturation temperature. CsCl banding experiments show that the first two effects reflect depolymerization of the DNA. Depolymerization apparently occurs by single-strand scission although some double-strand scission is not excluded. The destabilization of secondary structure results probably from chemical attack on the components of the individual strands.
mesh_terms: D000165:Acridine Orange; D000166:Acridines / Q000737:chemistry*; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D008027:Light; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D000166:Acridines; D004247:DNA; D000165:Acridine Orange
keywords: ACRIDINES/chemistry; DESOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID/chemistry; LIGHT