Intercalator
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- Category: Science
- Date Submitted: 05/16/2013 06:06 AM
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Intercalator
Intercalators are the agents that capable of inserting themselves into the successive base pairs in the DNA, therefore, making the pair of DNA kinking, uncoiling or even deform. This is cause the DNA to be malfunctioned.[1]
Intercalators are based on several supramolecular interactions simultaneously operating between the ligand and the particular base pair of the DNA. They usually use the pi-electron stacking or hydrogen bond and Van de Waal force or hydrophobic interaction to insert between the particular base pair of DNA.[2] This is because the DNA is double helix, the twist was made by the hydrogen bond interaction between the base pairs.[3] The intercalator may insert into the gap between the base pair. Usually intercalator are categorized as mutagens or carcinogenic substance.
[pic]
Definition of Hydrogen bond : when a hydrogen atom is bonded to a highly electronegative atom such as fluorine, oxygen and nitrogen, the bonding electron pair will draw towards the high electronegative atom. As the H atom don’t have inner shell electrons and small in size, the charge density is high. It will expose to attraction by nearby electron cloud, like a lone pair of electrons on an electronegative atom. The electrostatic attraction between the lone pair of electrons on the electronegative atom and the slightly positively charged hydrogen atom is called hydrogen bond.[4]
[pic]
Why they could cause cancer? They usually replace the original interaction between two base pairs, thus, making the DNA unwind or distorted.[5] Then the DNA will make the messenger RNA miscoding or other kind of DNA failure to cause the wrong replication of cell and the immune system was failed to destroy the abnormal cell.[6]
[pic]
Ethidium intercalated between two adenine-thymine base pairs.
Anti-cancer drugs are a kind of intercalators. They are using the theory of intercalators causing the distortion and unwinding of DNA to...
Intercalators are the agents that capable of inserting themselves into the successive base pairs in the DNA, therefore, making the pair of DNA kinking, uncoiling or even deform. This is cause the DNA to be malfunctioned.[1]
Intercalators are based on several supramolecular interactions simultaneously operating between the ligand and the particular base pair of the DNA. They usually use the pi-electron stacking or hydrogen bond and Van de Waal force or hydrophobic interaction to insert between the particular base pair of DNA.[2] This is because the DNA is double helix, the twist was made by the hydrogen bond interaction between the base pairs.[3] The intercalator may insert into the gap between the base pair. Usually intercalator are categorized as mutagens or carcinogenic substance.
[pic]
Definition of Hydrogen bond : when a hydrogen atom is bonded to a highly electronegative atom such as fluorine, oxygen and nitrogen, the bonding electron pair will draw towards the high electronegative atom. As the H atom don’t have inner shell electrons and small in size, the charge density is high. It will expose to attraction by nearby electron cloud, like a lone pair of electrons on an electronegative atom. The electrostatic attraction between the lone pair of electrons on the electronegative atom and the slightly positively charged hydrogen atom is called hydrogen bond.[4]
[pic]
Why they could cause cancer? They usually replace the original interaction between two base pairs, thus, making the DNA unwind or distorted.[5] Then the DNA will make the messenger RNA miscoding or other kind of DNA failure to cause the wrong replication of cell and the immune system was failed to destroy the abnormal cell.[6]
[pic]
Ethidium intercalated between two adenine-thymine base pairs.
Anti-cancer drugs are a kind of intercalators. They are using the theory of intercalators causing the distortion and unwinding of DNA to...