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Science 7 November 1969:
Vol. 166. no. 3906, pp. 755 - 757
DOI: 10.1126/science.166.3906.755
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Articles

Berberine: Complex with DNA

Anne K. Krey 1 and Fred E. Hahn 1

1 Department of Molecular Biology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, D.C. 20012

A complex of calf-thymus DNA with berberine sediments in the analytical ultracentrifuge. The DNA produced systematic changes in the absorption spectrum of berberine which suggest that single alkaloid molecules bind to DNA. Flow dichroism of purines and pyrimidines and of berberine in the complex with DNA had the same signs and magnitudes. Berberine shifted the thermal strand separation profile of DNA to higher temperatures. Therefore, the alkaloid forms a complex with DNA, probably by intercalation.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)