Journal of Synchrotron Radiation

Volume 14, Part 1 (January 2007)

radiation damage

J. Synchrotron Rad. (2007). 14, 99-108 [ doi:10.1107/S0909049506043251 ]

X-ray radiation-induced damage in DNA monitored by online Raman

J. E. McGeehan, P. Carpentier, A. Royant, D. Bourgeois and R. B. G. Ravelli

Abstract: High-quality Raman spectra have been collected on single DNA crystals kept at 100 K in a flow of cold nitrogen gas prior, during and after macromolecular crystallography (MX) data collection. The non-symmetric bending vibration for C-Br bonds in 8-bromo-2'-deoxyguanosine has been unambiguously identified at 293 cm^-1 in the non-resonant Raman spectra. The breakage of this bond could be monitored by the continuous recording of Raman spectra during X-ray exposure, and its decay versus dose could be directly correlated with the loss of the bromide definition within the electron-density maps as determined with MX.

Keywords: radiation damage; radiation-damage-induced phasing; Raman spectroscopy; DNA.