Fluorescence of DNA Duplexes: From Model Helices to Natural DNA

D. Markovitsi (1) , T. Gustavsson (1) , I. Vaya (1)

1 LFP - URA 2453 - Laboratoire Francis PERRIN

Recent fluorescence studies of DNA duplexes with a simple repetitive base sequence have revealed important collective effects which are very sensitive to conformational disorder. In contrast to the monomeric chromophores, whose fluorescence lifetimes are shorter than 1 ps, the fluorescence decays of duplexes span several decades of time. The occurrence of excitation energy transfer, evidenced by the decay of the fluorescence anisotropy on the femtosecond time scale, is a common feature of all of the examined systems. It is explained by the existence of Franck-Condon exciton states, in line with the Vabsorption spectra. Understanding the nature of the long-lived excited states, whose emission dominates the steady-state fluorescence spectrum of natural DNA, will be one of the challenges for the years to come.

Domaines: Chimie théorique et/ou physique

D. Markovitsi, T. Gustavsson, I. Vaya. Fluorescence of DNA Duplexes: From Model Helices to Natural DNA. Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2010, 1 (22), pp.3271-3276. ⟨10.1021/jz101122t⟩. ⟨hal-00538375⟩