In the 1980's, Dr. Barton synthesized molecular complexes containing metal and organic compounds that have the ability to insert themselves between the base pairs of the DNA ladder and cause chemical reactions. She first used these to study DNA structure. In 1996, Dr. Barton showed that the rate of electron transfer is surprisingly fast and that the amount of damage generated appears to depend on the chemical and structural properties of the DNA rather than on the distance that the electrons travel. Her work also showed that the electron mobility is highly sensitive to distortions in DNA shape and depends on how the bases within the DNA helix are stacked. Her current studies of DNA repair from a distance also show that repair efficiency does not decrease when the distance between the DNA-bound complex and the site of the damage is increased.
Efficiency does decrease, however, when the intervening stack of DNA bases is disrupted by bulges.
Although the method by which the electrons travel through the double helix isn't yet understood, this work may make it possible for scientists to develop new and more sensitive biological probes as well as to design molecules that can undertake therapeutic DNA repair. Oxidative DNA Damage Through Long-Range Electron Transfer. Rates of DNA-Mediated Electron Transfer Between Metallointercalators. Oxidative Thymine Dimer Repair in the DNA Helix.