CHARACTERIZATION OF THE REACTION OF CHLOROACETALDEHYDE WITH SINGLE AND DOUBLE-STRANDED DNA

Chloroacetaldehyde reacts with viral M13mp18 single and double stranded DNA to form the highly fluorescent adducts, etheno-AMP and etheno-CMP. Absorbance and fluorescence spectroscopy can be used to monitor and characterize these reactions. Both single and double stranded DNA showed increases in the absorbance following reaction with the aldehyde. The fluorescence also increased in these two groups and continued to rise with increasing time of incubation until a point of saturation was reached. The fluorescence of the double stranded moiety was considerably enhanced following reaction with the aldehyde while that of the single stranded population was not, making this method appropriate for the separation of small quantities of the two populations of DNA.