Photochemistry Of Proteins And Nucleic Acids

Photochemistry of Proteins and Nucleic Acids focuses on the effects of ultraviolet and visible radiations on proteins and nucleic acids. The book first discusses some principles of photochemistry, including the laws of photochemistry and factors influencing photochemical reactions in solutions. The text describes absorption and luminescence spectra of nucleoproteins and their components, including principal absorbing groups in proteins, nucleic acids, and nucleoproteins. The selection also highlights the action of ultraviolet light on proteins; photochemical and photosensitized inactivation of enzymes; and the photochemistry of purine and pyrimidine derivatives. The text also discusses nucleic acids and oligo- and polynucleotides. Topics include photochemical degradation of nucleic acid; kinetics of biological inactivation of nucleic acids; nucleoproteins; and reversibility of nucleic acid photolysis. The book also encompasses the inactivation of viruses, including inactivation studies with a plant virus, bacteriophages, and photochemically produced vaccines. The text also presents some problems in photobiology and some techniques in photochemistry. The text is a good source of information for readers interested in the study of proteins and nucleic acids. Based on the standards and codes from Fo

Photochemistry of Proteins and Nucleic Acids deals with photobiology.

Photochemistry and Photobiology of Nucleic Acids: Volume II, Biology is a collection of papers that deals with the biological effects due to stable UV induced alterations in critical cellular macromolecules, including cell death, growth delay, mutagenesis, and carcinogenesis. The papers assume that DNA is the macromolecule most relevant to cell pathology, as well as to the photochemical and photobiological properties of RNA which are essential in cellular functions. One paper investigates the UV-induced cross-linkings of proteins with nucleic acids as a possible cause of biological effects other than just in terms of the damage done to nucleic acids. Other papers discuss the mechanisms of protection against, and in the repair of damage caused by UV photons and by ionizing radiation (also chemical mutagens) in many organisms from viruses to mammalian cells. The repair processes appear to play a role in monitoring and preserving the structural integrity of DNA during physiological processes such as replication and transcription. One paper notes that in experiments on human embryonic lung fibroblasts WI-38 at very high radiation doses, radiation products of Thy in acid-soluble form appear while products from the DNA (acid-precipitable fraction) disappear. The paper suggests that the excision process is therefore selective. The collection is suitable for biochemists, microbiologists, or academicians whose works involve genetics, cancer, and cellular research.

The goals of the science of photobiology can be divided into four categories: to develop (I) ways to optimize the beneficial effects of light on man and his environment, (2) methods to protect organisms, including man, from the detrimental effects of light, (3) photochemical tools for use in studies of life processes, and (4) photochemical therapies in medicine. To achieve these goals will require the knowledgeable collaboration of biologists, chemists, engineers, mathematicians, physicians, and physicists; because photobiology is a truly multidisciplinary science. While a multidis ciplinary science is more intellectually demanding, it also has a greater potential for unexpected breakthroughs that can occur when data from several areas of science are integrated into new concepts for theoretical or practical use. Photochemical and Photobiological Reviews continues to provide in depth coverage of the many specialty areas of photobiology. It is hoped that these reviews will provide an important service to the younger scientists in the field and to senior scientists in related fields, because they provide a ready access to the recent literature in the field, and more importantly, they frequently offer a critical evaluation of the direction that the field is taking, or suggest a redirection when appropriate. Since it is important that this review series remain responsive to the needs of photochemists and photobiologists, the Editor would value com ments and suggestions from its readers.

This review of the ways in which ultraviolet and visible light affect the nucleic acids includes changes caused by excitation of the nucleic acids themselves, as well as reactions caused by photoexcitation of other reagents in the presence of nucleic acids.

Our knowledge of the photodegradation of polymers, chemical evolution, photosynthesis, visual perception and the biological effects of light depends heavily on our ability to elucidate the primary photochemical processes of macromolecules. This volume brings together for the first time from the fields of natural as well as synthetic polymers a group of reports dealing with macromolecular photochemistry. Since macromolecular photo chemistry is an expanding new field that crosses the boundaries between classical disciplines, the reader will encounter the employment of diverse scientific approaches and unfamiliar terminology. However, it has become increasingly apparent that researchers in these fields have much to learn from each other. Although this book is not intended to give a detailed survey of the photochemistry of macromolecules. it does represent the editor's perspective on the relationship between theory, kinetic studies and the synthesis aspects of photochemistry. The ideas expressed by the contributors offer a valuable com posite of theoretical and experimental approaches for those who are concerned with problems which have photochemical relevance, and show that investigators from different fields share many concepts and perhaps some common problems. This novel array of present knowledge should provide a basis for organizing and understanding photochemical information from chemistry, physics, biology and medicine. While of particular value to the research worker, the book also should be of interest to the graduate student about to embark on a problem in macromolecular photo chemistry.