SJG-136, a pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepine (PBD) dimer, is a highly efficient interstrand crosslinking agent that reacts with guanine bases in a 5'-GATC-3' sequence in the DNA minor groove. SJG-136 crosslinks form rapidly and persist compared to those produced by conventional crosslinking agents such as nitrogen mustard, melphalan or cisplatin which bind in the DNA major groove. A panel of Ch...

We present here molecular dynamics simulations and DNA conformational dynamics for a series of trinuclear platinum [Pt(3)(HPTAB)](6+)-DNA adducts [HPTAB = N,N,N',N',N'',N''-hexakis (2-pyridyl-methyl)-1,3,5-tris(aminomethyl) benzene], including three types of bifunctional crosslinks and four types of trifunctional crosslinks. Our simulation results reveal that binding of the trinuclear platinum ...

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Extracellular aging--accumulating molecular damage by glycation, oxidation, and crosslinking of long-lived extracellular proteins, mainly collagen and elastin--is a major cause of several important human aging pathologies. Crosslinking increases mechanical stiffness of blood vessels and urinary bladder. Crosslinking impairs the functioning of the kidney, heart, retina, and other tissues and org...

We studied the formation of double strand breaks (DSBs) as intermediates in the repair of DNA interstrand crosslinks (ICLs) by homologous recombination (HR). The plasmid EGFP-N1 was crosslinked with trioxsalen to give one ICL per plasmid on average. HeLa cells were transfected with the crosslinked plasmids and the ICL repair was monitored by following the restoration of the GFP expression. It w...

DNA-DNA crosslinks are the lethal cellular mechanism of bifunctional alkylating agent cytotoxicity. Novobiocin, an inhibitor of DNA topoisomerase II, impairs eukaryotic DNA repair of alkylating agent adducts and may increase the number of adducts and their resultant cytotoxicity in malignant cells. The effect of novobiocin on clonogenic survival and DNA crosslinking due to cisplatin (cDDP) and ...

During their production, single-walled carbon nanotubes form bundles. Owing to the weak van der Waals interaction that holds them together in the bundle, the tubes can easily slide on each other, resulting in a shear modulus comparable to that of graphite. This low shear modulus is also a major obstacle in the fabrication of macroscopic fibres composed of carbon nanotubes. Here, we have introdu...

There have been growing evidences for the critical roles of metal-coordination complexes in defining structural and mechanical properties of unmineralized biological materials, including hardness, toughness, and abrasion resistance. Their dynamic (e.g. pH-responsive, self-healable, reversible) properties inspire promising applications of synthetic materials following this concept. However, mech...

During cell division, mitotic spindle microtubules segregate chromosomes by exerting forces on kinetochores. What forces drive chromosome segregation in anaphase remains a central question. The current model for anaphase in human cells includes shortening of kinetochore fibers and separation of spindle poles. Both processes require kinetochores to be linked with the poles. Here we show, by comb...

Triple helix-forming oligonucleotides (TFOs) represent potentially powerful tools to artificially modulate gene activity. In particular, they can be used to specifically introduce a lesion into a selected target sequence: interstrand crosslinks and monoadducts can be introduced via TFOs coupled to psoralen. The efficiency of these strategies depends on the cell ability to repair these lesions, ...