Lichen secondary metabolites as DNA-interacting agents

Abstract

A series of lichen secondary metabolites (parietin, atranorin, usnic and gyrophoric acid) and their interactions with calf thymus DNA were investigated using molecular biophysics and biochemical methods. The binding constants K were estimated to range from 4.3 x 10(5) to 2.4 x 10(7) M-1 and the percentage of hypochromism was found to be 16-34% (from spectral titration). The results of spectral measurement indicate that the compounds act as effective DNA-interacting agents. Electrophoretic separation studies prove that from all the metabolites tested in this study, only gyrophoric acid exhibited an inhibitory effect on Topo I (25 mu M). (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.