Mapping the sites for selective oxidation of guanines in DNA

The effective energy of a positive charge when it is localized at a specific guanine nucleobase in DNA was calculated using density functional theory. The results demonstrate that the efficiency of a guanine to act as a hole-trap in DNA strongly depends on the nature of the flanking nucleobases. The presence of a pyrimidine base at the 3′ position adjacent to a guanine significantly increases the localization energy of the positive charge. The calculated distributions of a positive charge in sequences of two or three adjacent guanines, flanked by other nucleobases, provide an explanation for experimental literature data on the site-selective oxidation of DNA. Copyright © 2003 American Chemical Society.