Molecular Pharmacology, Vol 3, 556-560, Copyright © 1967 by the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics

A Spectrophotometric Study on Binding of Acridine Orange with DNA

¹ Research Institute, Kobe College, Nishinomiya, Japan

The interaction of acridine orange (AO) with calf thymus DNA was studied by the ordinary and difference absorption spectra methods. The spectral changes of AO produced with DNA were found to be due to binding of AO with the deoxyadenosine and deoxyguanosine moieties of DNA. It was also found that the contribution of interaction with the deoxycytidine and deoxythymidine moieties to the above spectral changes was less remarkable. A comparative study was made on a typical metachromatic system of AO and heparin.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to thank Dr. M. Nishikawa of Takeda Chemical Industries for kind help in this work. The author wishes also to thank Miss M. Katagiri and Miss K. Tetsubayashi for their technical assistance.