Protamine-induced DNA compaction but not aggregation shows effective radioprotection against double-strand breaks》.pdfVIP

Chemical Physics Letters 480 (2009) 113–117 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Chemical Physics Letters journal homepage: /locate/cplett Protamine-induced DNA compaction but not aggregation shows effective radioprotection against double-strand breaks Mari Suzuki a,b, Cecile Crozatier a, Kenichi Yoshikawa a,b, Toshiaki Mori c, Yuko Yoshikawa d,* a Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan b Spatio-Temporal Order Project, ICORP, JST, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan c Radiation Research Laboratory, Osaka Prefecture University, Sakai 599-8570, Japan d Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology, Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu 525-8577, Japan a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: Protamine, an arginine-rich protein, is essential for the compaction of sperm DNA. We performed single- Received 14 July 2009 molecule observations of DNA double-strand breaks caused by 60Co c-ray irradiation and quantitatively In final form 22 August 2009 evaluated the protective effect of protamine. It was shown that double-strand breaks were significantly Available online 26 August 2009 protected for the tightly compact DNA, whereas there is no apparent decrease on the damage for loosely aggregated DNA molecules. Our findings suggest that the densely packed structure of DNA reduces the ability of radiolytic reactive oxygen s