Chemical stability of oligonucleotides containing the acetylated and deacetylated adducts of the carcinogen N-2-acetylaminofluorene

Abstract
We have prepared and characterized the single-stranded oligonucleotide heptamer 5'-ATCCGTC-3' in which the lone guanine of the oligonucleotide is modified at the C8 position with either the acetylated or deacetylated form of the carcinogenic adduct 2-aminofluorene. These two lesions represent the two major adducts formed upon the in vivo administration of the potent experimental carcinogen N -2-acetylaminofluorene. The stability of the adducts was compared by analyzing the oligonucleotide for strand scission or depurination by polyacrylamide gel etectrophoresis following treatment under either neutral, acidic or basic conditions or incubation in the presence of piperidine. The results show that both adducts are stable near neutral pH but that the deacetylated adduct is less stable than the acetylated adduct to either bask or acidic conditions. Both adducts are equally susceptible to piperidine. The method of analysis described here could prove useful for characterizing other adduct structures, thus providing a general procedure to determine the stability of a variety of lesions in DNA.

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