DNA-mediated charge transport (CT) is exquisitely sensitive to the integrity of the bridging π-stack and is characterized by a shallow distance dependence. These properties are obscured by poor coupling between the donor/acceptor pair and the DNA bridge, or by convolution with other processes. Previously, we found a surprising periodic length dependence for the rate of DNAmediated CT across adenine tracts monitored by 2-aminopurine fluorescence. Here we report a similar periodicity by monitoring N 2 -cyclopropylguanosine decomposition by rhodium and anthraquinone photooxidants. Furthermore, we find that this periodicity is attenuated by consequent back electron transfer (BET), as observed by direct comparison between sequences that allow and suppress BET. Thus, the periodicity can be controlled by engineering the extent of BET across the bridge. The periodic length dependence is not consistent with a periodicity predicted by molecular wire theory but is consistent with a model where multiples of four to five base pairs form an ideal CT-active length of a bridging adenine domain.

Mutation sites that arise in human mitochondrial DNA as a result of oxidation by a rhodium photooxidant have been identified. HeLa cells were incubated with [Rh(phi) 2 bpy]Cl 3 (phi = 9,10-phenanthrenequinone diimine), an intercalating photooxidant, to allow the complex to enter the cell and bind mitochondrial DNA. Photoexcitation of DNA-bound [Rh(phi) 2 bpy] 3+ can promote the oxidation of guanine from a distance through DNA-mediated charge transport. After two rounds of photolysis and growth of cells incubated with the rhodium complex, DNA mutations in a portion of the mitochondrial genome were assessed via manual sequencing. The mutational pattern is consistent with dG to dT transversions in the repetitive guanine tracts. Significantly, the mutational pattern found overlaps oxidative damage hot spots seen previously. These mutations are found within conserved sequence block II, a critical regulatory element involved in DNA replication, and these have been identified as sites of low oxidation potential to which oxidative damage is funneled. Based upon this mutational analysis and its correspondence to sites of long range oxidative damage, we infer a critical role for DNA charge transport in generating these mutations and, thus, in regulating mitochondrial DNA replication under oxidative stress.