The 5′‐CA DNA‐sequence preference of daunomycin

Abstract
The DNA-sequence specificity of daunomycin was investigated by DNase I footprinting and an E. coli RNA polymerase transcription-inhibition assay. The 5′-CA sequence was identified as being the highest affinity binding site, although other modest affinity (5′-GC, CG, CT, TC, AC) and poor affinity sites (5′-AA, AT, TA) were also observed. The preference of daunomycin for 5′-CA nucleotide sequence suggests that its biological activity may arise from association with the 5′-CA-containing sequences thought to be associated with genetic regulatory elements in eukaryotes