title: Anthraquinones quinizarin and danthron unwind negatively supercoiled DNA and lengthen linear DNA.
abstract: The intercalating drugs possess a planar aromatic chromophore unit by which they insert between DNA bases causing the distortion of classical B-DNA form. The planar tricyclic structure of anthraquinones belongs to the group of chromophore units and enables anthraquinones to bind to DNA by intercalating mode. The interactions of simple derivatives of anthraquinone, quinizarin (1,4-dihydroxyanthraquinone) and danthron (1,8-dihydroxyanthraquinone), with negatively supercoiled and linear DNA were investigated using a combination of the electrophoretic methods, fluorescence spectrophotometry and single molecule technique an atomic force microscopy. The detection of the topological change of negatively supercoiled plasmid DNA, unwinding of negatively supercoiled DNA, corresponding to appearance of DNA topoisomers with the low superhelicity and an increase of the contour length of linear DNA in the presence of quinizarin and danthron indicate the binding of both anthraquinones to DNA by intercalating mode.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biophysics, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, Komenského 73, 041 81 Košice, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Valéria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Verebová
authors.affiliation: Food and Soft Materials Science, Institute of Food, Nutrition & Health, ETH Zurich, Schmelzbergstrasse 9, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jozef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Adamcik
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, P.J. Šafárik University, Moyzesova 11, 041 54 Košice, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Patrik
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Danko
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, P.J. Šafárik University, Moyzesova 11, 041 54 Košice, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Dušan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Podhradský
authors.affiliation: Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Sciences, P.J. Šafárik University, Jesenná 5, 041 54 Košice, Slovakia; Center for Interdisciplinary Biosciences, Faculty of Sciences, P.J. Šafárik University, Jesenná 5, 041 54 Košice, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Pavol
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Miškovský
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biophysics, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, Komenského 73, 041 81 Košice, Slovakia. Electronic address: jana.stanicova@uvlf.sk.
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Staničová
mesh_terms: D000880:Anthraquinones / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000187:drug effects*; D059371:DNA, B-Form / Q000737:chemistry / Q000187:drug effects; D004278:DNA, Superhelical / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000187:drug effects*; D058645:Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis; D007364:Intercalating Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation / Q000187:drug effects; D010957:Plasmids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000187:drug effects; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence
chemical_list: D000880:Anthraquinones; D059371:DNA, B-Form; D004278:DNA, Superhelical; D007364:Intercalating Agents; C034890:1,4-dihydroxyanthraquinone; D004247:DNA; C004315:danthron
keywords: DNA lengthening; Danthron; Intercalation; Negatively supercoiled DNA; Quinizarin