A PIXE METHOD TO STUDY BIOLOGY AT THE DNA LEVEL

A PIXE METHOD TO STUDY BIOLOGY AT THE DNA LEVEL 1 first-author 1 1 1 1 1 1 Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China An external proton beam system with a detection sensitivity of 10 -11 g for ruthenium was used to study DNA. A metal- organic compound tris (4,7- diphenylphenanthroline) ruthenium (Ⅱ) [ <math><mrow><mi>R</mi><mi>u</mi><msubsup><mrow><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mi>D</mi><mi>i</mi><mi>P</mi><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></mrow><mn>3</mn><mrow><mn>2</mn><mo>+</mo></mrow></msubsup></mrow></math> ] was chosen as a metal marker. The target DNA labeled with <math><mrow><mi>R</mi><mi>u</mi><msubsup><mrow><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mi>D</mi><mi>i</mi><mi>P</mi><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></mrow><mn>3</mn><mrow><mn>2</mn><mo>+</mo></mrow></msubsup></mrow></math> was electrophoresed in an agarose gel and then was analysed by PIXE. The DNA sample with the metal marker showed clearly Ru peaks in the PIXE spectra, while the control showed no Ru peak at all. This method can be used to study biology at the DNA level. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) Tris (4,7- diphenylphenanthroline) ruthenium (Ⅱ) Electrophorese PIXE REFERENCES E.T. Williams , Biol. Trace Elem. Res ., 12 ( 1987 ), 19 . Biol. Trace Elem. Res W. Maenhaut , Nucl. Instr. Meth ., in press . Nucl. Instr. Meth G.W. Grime et al ., Nucl. Instr. Meth ., B22 ( 1987 ), 109 . Nucl. Instr. Meth G.J.F. Legge et al ., Nucl. Instr. Meth ., B30 ( 1988 ), 252 . Nucl. Instr. Meth G.W. Grime et al ., Nucl. Instr. Meth ., B30 ( 1988 ), 227 . Nucl. Instr. Meth Lisa Dailey et al ., Mol. Cell. Biol ., 7 ( 1987 ), 4582 . Mol. Cell. Biol Mark Johnston , Nature , 328 ( 1987 ), 353 . Nature J.M. Berg , Science , 232 ( 1986 ), 485 . Science T.F. Donahue , Cell , 54 ( 1988 ), 621 . Cell G. Parraga et al ., Science , 241 ( 1988 ), 1489 . Science M. Karin et al ., Nature , 308 ( 1984 ), 513 . Nature M.S. Szcypka and D.J. Thiele , Mol. Cell. Biol ., 9 ( 1989 ), 421 . Mol. Cell. Biol Wes Lee et al ., Nature , 325 ( 1987 ), 368 . Nature J.K. Barton , Science , 233 ( 1986 ), 727 . Science B.C. Muller et al ., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA , 84 ( 1987 ), 1764 . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA C.T. Lin et al ., J. Am. Chem. Soc ., 98 ( 1979 ), 6536 . J. Am. Chem. Soc T. Maniatis et al ., Molecular Cloning , 1982 , 86 , 150 . Molecular Cloning D.E. Newbury ed., Microbeam analysis , San Francisco Press Inc. , 1979 , 265 . Microbeam analysis J.K. Barton et al ., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA ., 81 ( 1984 ), 1961 . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA X. Zeng et al ., Vacuum , 39 ( 1989 ), 2- 4 : 91 . Vacuum T. Maniatis et al ., Molecular Cloning , 1982 , 385 . Molecular Cloning Schib et al ., Annu. Rev. Genet ., 21 ( 1987 ), 237 . Annu. Rev. Genet P. Sauerrt , Annu. Rev. Biochem ., 53 ( 1984 ), 293 . Annu. Rev. Biochem R. Schieif , Science , 241 ( 1988 ), 1182 . Science This work was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant No.18 60 122 1990-11-01 2021-02-05 1990 Nuclear Science and Techniques 4 1