Electron injection from mitochondrial transcription factor A to DNA associated with thymine dimer photo repair

Abstract

Electron transfer through π-stacked arrays of double-stranded DNA contributes to the redox chemistry of bases, including guanine oxidation and thymine–thymine dimer repair by photolyase. 5-Bromouracil is an attractive photoreactive thymine analogue that can be used to investigate electron transfer in DNA, and is a useful probe for protein–DNA interaction analysis. In the present study using BrU we found that UV irradiation facilitated electron injection from mitochondrial transcription factor A into DNA. We also observed that this electron injection could lead to repair of a thymine–thymine dimer.