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

Chloroacetaldehyde reacts with viral M13mp18 single and double strande d DNA to form the highly fluorescent adducts, etheno-AMP and etheno-CM P. Absorbance and fluorescence spectroscopy can be used to monitor and characterize these reactions. Both single and double stranded DNA sho wed increases in the absorbance following reaction with the aldehyde. The fluorescence also increased in these two groups and continued to r ise with increasing time of incubation until a point of saturation was reached. The fluorescence of the double stranded moiety was considera bly enhanced following reaction with the aldehyde while that of the si ngle stranded population was not, making this method appropriate for t he separation of small quantities of the two populations of DNA.