TY - JOUR A1 - Hahn, Marc Benjamin A1 - Meyer, Susann A1 - Kunte, Hans-Jörg A1 - Solomun, Tihomir A1 - Sturm, Heinz T1 - Measurements and simulations of microscopic damage to DNA in water by 30 keV electrons: A general approach applicable to other radiation sources and biological targets N2 - The determination of the microscopic dose-damage relationship for DNA in an aqueous environment is of a fundamental interest for dosimetry and applications in radiation therapy and protection. We combine geant4 particle-scattering simulations in water with calculations concerning the movement of biomolecules to obtain the energy deposit in the biologically relevant nanoscopic volume. We juxtaposition these results to the experimentally determined damage to obtain the dose-damage relationship at a molecular level. This approach is tested for an experimentally challenging system concerning the direct irradiation of plasmid DNA (pUC19) in water with electrons as primary particles. Here a microscopic target model for the plasmid DNA based on the relation of lineal energy and radiation quality is used to calculate the effective target volume. It was found that on average fewer than two ionizations within a 7.5-nm radius around the sugar-phosphate backbone are sufficient to cause a single strand break, with a corresponding median lethal energy deposit being E1/2=6±4 eV. The presented method is applicable for ionizing radiation (e.g., γ rays, x rays, and electrons) and a variety of targets, such as DNA, proteins, or cells. KW - DNA KW - Radiation damage KW - Dosimetry KW - DNA radiation damage KW - Single-strand break (SSB) KW - Double-strand break (DSB) KW - Low energy electrons KW - Monte Carlo simulation KW - Radiation damage to biomolecules KW - Plasmid DNA in water KW - Lethal dose KW - Solutions (pH, salinity, cosolutes) KW - Geant4 KW - Microdosimetry PY - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-404244 SN - 2470-0045 SN - 2470-0053 VL - 95 IS - 5 SP - 052419-1 EP - 052419-8 PB - American Physical Society CY - USA AN - OPUS4-40424 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Meyer, Susann A1 - Schröter, Maria-Astrid A1 - Hahn, Marc Benjamin A1 - Solumon, Tihomir A1 - Strum, Heinz A1 - Kunte, Hans-Jörg T1 - Ectoine can enhance structural changes in DNA in vitro N2 - Strand breaks and conformational changes of DNA have consequences for the physiological role of DNA. The natural protecting molecule ectoine is beneficial to entire bacterial cells and biomolecules such as proteins by mitigating detrimental effects of environmental stresses. It was postulated that ectoine-like molecules bind to negatively charged spheres that mimic DNA surfaces. We investigated the effect of ectoine on DNA and whether ectoine is able to protect DNA from damages caused by ultraviolet radiation (UV-A). In order to determine different isoforms of DNA, agarose gel electrophoresis and atomic force microscopy experiments were carried out with plasmid pUC19 DNA. Our quantitative results revealed that a prolonged incubation of DNA with ectoine leads to an increase in transitions from supercoiled (undamaged) to open circular (single-strand break) conformation at pH 6.6. The effect is pH dependent and no significant changes were observed at physiological pH of 7.5. After UV-A irradiation in ectoine solution, changes in DNA conformation were even more pronounced and this effect was pH dependent. We hypothesize that ectoine is attracted to the negatively charge surface of DNA at lower pH and therefore fails to act as a stabilizing agent for DNA in our in vitro experiments. KW - Ectoine KW - DNA KW - UV radiation PY - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-413139 VL - 7 IS - 1 SP - Article 7170, 1 EP - 10 AN - OPUS4-41313 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -