Hydroxyl radicals do not crosslink a DNA-lysozyme complex

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Abstract
The ionic complex between lysozyme and either Escherichia coli DNA or pBR322 DNA was not crosslinked by two systems capable of producing nanomolar amounts of hydroxyl radicals, the oxidation of xanthine by xanthine oxidase and the iron catalyzed oxidation of ascorbic acid. Nor did effective crosslinking occur with micromolar quantities of hydroxyl radicals raised by the addition of adenosine nucleotides to ferrous iron and hydrogen peroxide. In this case, radical content was estimated by colorimetric analysis of formaldehyde following hydroxyl radical oxidation of dimethyl sulfoxide. Similar amounts of radicals generated by pulse radiolysis in a nitrous oxide atmosphere failed also to induce crosslinking. These findings do not support a role for hydroxy radicals in the N-acetoxy-2-acetylaminofluorene induced crosslinking of DNA to lysozyme proposed earlier.