An ESR study of the radicals in X-irradiated L-alpha-amino-n-butyric acid HCl containing 1.5% L-cysteine HCl.

After X-irradiation at room temperature, the radicals in L-alpha-amino-n-butyric acid HCl are CH3CH2CHCOOH. The beta- and alpha-hyperfine constants are typical of those found in amino acid radicals. On annealing at temperatures near 100 degrees C this carbon-centered radical in samples containing 1.5% cysteine converts to a perthiyl radical, RCH2S(1)S(2). The g-values for the perithiyl radical are 2.0024, 2.0257, and 2.0557. When the field is in the minimum g-value direction, the hyperfine splittings are 50 G for 33S(2) and 32 G for 33S(1).

The conformation and orientation of copper (II)-bleomycin intercalated with DNA.

EPR data are used to describe the conformation and identity of the atoms coordinated to Cu(II) in Cu(II)-bleomycin bound to oriented DNA fibers. The fibers were slowly drawn from viscous solutions of Cu(II)-bleomycin-DNA containing one Cu(II)-bleomycin to 200 basepairs. EPR measurements were made at room temperature and 90 K for different orientations of the external magnetic field with respect to the helical axes of the fibers. The g-values (g parallel = 2.21, g perpendicular = 2.04) and the hyperfine constant (A parallel = 175 G) are consistent with values expected for Cu(II) chelated to a square planar array of ligands. In the oriented fibers, the square planar arrays do not all have the same orientations with respect to the fiber axes. At room temperature the chelated ions have rotational freedom in which the normal to the planar array has almost complete freedom of rotation about axes perpendicular to the DNA fiber axes. The normal maintains an angle of 75 degrees with respect to the axis, in the plane of the basepair, about which it rotates. Nine superhyperfine peaks on the high field side of the EPR spectrum were partially resolved. The number and splitting (12 G) of these superhyperfine peaks indicate that four nitrogen atoms are chelated to Cu(II) in a square planar array. These data on Cu(II)-bleomycin bound to DNA give information on the orientation of the metal-containing portion of bleomycin which lies outside to double helix.