Identification and quantitation of the lesion accompanying base release in bleomycin-mediated DNA degradation

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/ja00164a049

Interaction of bleomycin, Fe²⁺, and limiting O₂ or bleomycin, Fe³⁺, and H₂O₂ with DNA results in the production of free nucleic acid base and an oxidatively damaged sugar lesion that undergoes strand scission subsequent to treatment with alkali. The hexamer d(CGCGCG) has been utilized to develop a protocol to establish the identity of this lesion as a 2'-deoxy-4'-pentulose moiety and to establish its stoichiometric production with respect to free nucleic acid base. The protocol developed has been extended to a variety of heterogeneous DNAs with similar results. The predominant pathway for base release in bleomycin-mediated DNA degradation is the result of chemistry at the C-4' carbon of the sugar moiety.