Fluorescence anisotropy of DNA/DAPI complex: torsional dynamics and geometry of the complex

Cell-death assessment by fluorescent and nonfluorescent cytosolic and nuclear staining techniques

Apoptosis, a genetically programmed cellular event leads to biochemical and morphological changes in cells. Alterations in DNA caused by several factors affect nucleus and ultimately the entire cell leading to compromised function of the organ and organism. DNA, a master regulator of the cellular events, is an important biomolecule with regards to cell growth, cell death, cell migration and cell differentiation. It is therefore imperative to develop the staining techniques that may lead to visualize the changes in nucleus where DNA is housed, to comprehend the cellular pathophysiology. Over the years a number of nuclear staining techniques such as propidium iodide, Hoechst-33342, 4', 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI), Acridine orange-Ethidium bromide staining, among others have been developed to assess the changes in DNA. Some nonnuclear staining techniques such as Annexin-V staining, which although does not stain DNA, but helps to identify the events that result from DNA alteration and leads to initiation of apoptotic cell death. In this review, we have briefly discussed some of the most commonly used fluorescent and nonfluorescent staining techniques that identify apoptotic changes in cell, DNA and the nucleus. These techniques help in differentiating several cellular and nuclear phenotypes that result from DNA damage and have been identified as specific to necrosis or early and late apoptosis as well as scores of other nuclear deformities occurring inside the cells.

Polarized fluorescence correlation spectroscopy of DNA-DAPI complexes

We discuss the use of fluorescence correlation spectroscopy for the measurement of relatively slow rotations of large macromolecules in solution or attached to other macromolecular structures. We present simulations and experimental results to illustrate the range of rotational correlation times and diffusion times that the technique can analyze. In particular, we examine various methods to analyze the polarization fluctuation data. We have found that by first constructing the polarization function and then calculating the autocorrelation function, we can obtain the rotational motion of the molecule with very little interference from the lateral diffusion of the macromolecule, as long as the rotational diffusion is significantly faster than the lateral diffusion. Surprisingly, for common fluorophores the autocorrelation of the polarization function is relatively unaffected by the photon statistics. In our instrument, two-photon excitation is used to define a small volume of illumination where a few molecules are present at any instant of time. The measurements of long DNA molecules labeled with the fluorescent probe DAPI show local rotational motions of the polymers in addition to translation motions of the entire polymer. For smaller molecules such as EGFP, the viscosity of the solution must be increased to bring the relaxation due to rotational motion into the measurable range. Overall, our results show that polarized fluorescence correlation spectroscopy can be used to detect fast and slow rotational motion in the time scale from microsecond to second, a range that cannot be easily reached by conventional fluorescence anisotropy decay methods.

Determination of interactions between structured nucleic acids by fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET): selection of target sites for functional nucleic acids

We previously developed a method for monitoring the integrity of oligonucleotides in vitro and in vivo by quantitating fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between two different fluorochromes attached to a single oligonucleotide. As an extension of this analysis, we examined changes in the extent of FRET in the presence or absence of target nucleic acids with a specific sequence and a higher-ordered structure. In this system FRET was maximal when probes were free in solution and a decrease in FRET was evidence of successful hybridization. We used a single-stranded oligodeoxyribonucleotide labeled at its 5'-end and its 3'-end with 6-carboxyfluorescein and 6-carboxytetramethylrhodamine, respectively. Incubation of the probe with a single-stranded complementary oligonucleotide reduced the FRET. Moreover, a small change in FRET was also observed when the probe was incubated with an oligonucleotide in which the target site had been embedded in a stable hairpin structure. The decrease in the extent of FRET depended on the length of the stem region of the hairpin structure and also on the higher-ordered structure of the probe. These results indicate that this spectrofluorometric method and FRET probes can be used to estimate the efficacy of hybridization between a probe and its target site within highly ordered structures. This conclusion based on changes in FRET was confirmed by gel-shift assays.