A study of the intramolecular changes in DNA exposed to gamma rays and protons with energy of 645 MeV by use of quantomechanical methods

DNA conformation changes were studied following protective pretreatment (with cysteamine or Cytriphos, Bulgarian Patent No. 21672/1973) and exposure to gamma rays or 645-MeV protons. The experiments were performed on solutions of purified DNA from Bacillus subtilis 23 prototroph. For gamma irradiations at doses ranging from 5 to 150 kR, electroconductivity changes in the 3.6 - 7 MHz band were found to diminish with the increase of the radiation dose. In the 7 - 10 MHz band, electroconductivity diminished at doses of up to 50 kR, whereas 100- and 150-kR exposures resulted in no such differences. At higher frequencies (up to 17 MHz), DNA electroconductivity changed but little with an increase electroconductivity values, as compared to cysteamine which raised them. For 645-MeV proton irradiations, a rise in dielectric constant and a fall in electrostatic free energy is observed with increase in dose within the range of n