Direct Fluorescence Monitoring of DNA Base Excision Repair

Abstract

Uracil is a common form of DNA damage resulting from hydrolysis of cytosine, and cellular uracil DNA glycosylases (UDG) have evolved to remove it specifically. The use of nonnatural pyrene deoxyriboside in short DNA oligomers to directly report on UDG enzymatic activity is described. The mechanism relies on the use of uracil as a strong quencher of pyrene, and enzyme repair activity can be directly imaged with bacterial cells in real time. Detailed facts of importance to specialist readers are published as ”Supporting Information”. Such documents are peer-reviewed, but not copy-edited or typeset. They are made available as submitted by the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.