One-electron oxidation of DNA: mechanism and consequences

All living organisms store the information necessary to maintain life in their DNA. Any process that damages DNA and causes loss or corruption of that information threatens the viability of the organism. One-electron oxidation is such a process. Loss of an electron from DNA generates a radical cation that is located primarily on its nucleobases. The radical cation migrates reversibly through duplex DNA by hopping until it is eventually trapped in an irreversible chemical reaction. The particular sequence of nucleobases in a DNA oligomer determines both the efficiency of hopping and the specific location and nature of the damaging chemical reaction. In its normal aqueous solutions, DNA is a polyanion because of the negative charge carried by its phosphate groups. Counter ions (typically Na(+)) to the phosphate groups play an important role in facilitating both the migration of the radical cation and in its eventual reaction with H(2)O. Irreversible reaction of a radical cation with H(2)O in duplex DNA occurs preferentially at the most reactive site. In normal DNA that is comprised of the four common DNA nucleobases, reaction occurs most commonly at a guanine and results in its conversion primarily to 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine (8-OxoG). Both electronic and steric effects control the outcome of this process. If the DNA oligomer does not contain a suitable guanine, then reaction of the radical cation occurs at the thymine of a TT step primarily by a tandem process. The general outcomes revealed in the one-electron oxidation of DNA oligomers in solution appear to be generally valid also for more complex DNA structures and for the cellular DNA of living organisms.