A study of the direct effects of ionising and far ultraviolet radiation on nucleic acids.

This thesis reports the results of a study of the direct effects of gamma and far UV radiation on nucleic acid model systems. For the gamma study, frozen aqueous solutions of 2'-deoxyribonucleosides were chosen as the model systems which best mimic possible radiation chemical events via the direct effects occuring in DNA in vivo. The low yields and high complexity of the mixtures of degradation products afforded by the direct effects required the development of an efficient analytical procedure. This methodology, once perfected for the most complicated system, that of thymidine, was readily applicable to the study of the direct effects of gamma radiation on other nucleosides and to the study of the direct effects of far UV radiation on thymidine. In Chapter I, we report and discuss the results of the study of the direct effects of gamma radiation on thymidine including the isolation and identification of the chemical modifications induced, and describe experiments designed to probe the mechanisms involved in their formation. In Chapters II and III, we extend the study to other 2'-deoxyribo-nucleosides, 2'-deoxycytidine and 2'-deoxyadenosine. Chapter IV presents the results of the study of the direct effects of far UV light on thymidine, a project designed to complement the gamma study and hopefully to bring additional insight into the mechanisms of formation of those products common to both radiation energies. In particular, the mechanisms of the formation of the spore photoproduct, a lesion known to be formed in DNA in vivo, have been elucidated. The study of the direct effects of gamma radiation on thymidine and 2'-deoxycytidine revealed the formation of several new products. Chapter V reports an analysis of the configurational and conformational properties of these molecules