Resonant Formation of DNA Strand Breaks by Low-Energy (3 to 20 eV) Electrons
Abstract
Most of the energy deposited in cells by ionizing radiation is channeled into the production of abundant free secondary electrons with ballistic energies between 1 and 20 electron volts. Here it is shown that reactions of such electrons, even at energies well below ionization thresholds, induce substantial yields of single- and double-strand breaks in DNA, which are caused by rapid decays of transient molecular resonances localized on the DNA's basic components. This finding presents a fundamental challenge to the traditional notion that genotoxic damage by secondary electrons can only occur at energies above the onset of ionization, or upon solvation when they become a slowly reacting chemical species.
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REFERENCES AND NOTES
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We thank A. J. Waker for helpful comments and suggestions. Supported by the Medical Research Council of Canada.
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Published In
Science
Volume 287 | Issue 5458
3 March 2000
3 March 2000
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Received: 30 August 1999
Accepted: 7 January 2000
Published in print: 3 March 2000
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- Badia Boudaı̈ffa et al.
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