Download Toxicity of benzo[a]pyrene occurs because of the formation of

Toxicity of benzo[a]pyrene occurs because of the formation of covalent adducts with DNA
guanines. In this work we report the attempt to detect this DNA-adduct using both an
electrochemical assay based on gold nanoparticles and a surface plasmon resonance DNA
sensor. Detection was achieved via inhibition of the hybridization reaction of oligonucleotide
sequences after formation of the covalent adduct. Detec-ting oligonucleotide sequences have
been designed to get high reactivity vs formation of the adduct and benzo[a]-pyrene 7,8dihydrodiol 9,10-epoxide has been used to generate adducts. Formation of adducts in the
nanomolar range was evaluated using the surface plasmon resonance sensor with both the
oligonucleotide sequences containing guanines.