Effect of Benzo[c]phenanthridine Alkaloids on Reverse Transcriptase and Their Binding Property to Nucleic Acids

Abstract
Twelve benzo[c]phenanthridine alkaloids, naturally occurring and synthetic model compounds, were examined for their anti-reverse transcriptase activity. Significant inhibitory effects on AMV reverse transcriptase were found with avicine and 6-methylnitidine as well as with nitidine and fagaronine, whose inhibitory effects on this enzyme have been reported by Sethi et al. In the CD spectra, the mixtures of these four alkaloids with either (rA)n · (dT)12-18 or (rA)n · (dT)n showed induced CD bands at longer wavelengths, suggesting that they interacted with the nucleic acids.