Publication in Chemical Reviews
12. 1. 2012
E. Palecek and M. Bartosik published a review on electrochemistry of nucleic acids.
Recently, a review article authored by Emil Paleček and Martin Bartošík, entitled Electrochemistry of nucleic acids, has appeared on the Internet. The paper was published in Chemical Reviews (DOI: 10.1021/cr200303p; > 920 references) with an impact factor of 33.036. This prestigious journal publishes reviews from diverse areas of chemistry and biochemistry. The paper by Paleček and Bartošík presents the electrochemistry of nucleic acids as a booming field (in last few years with > 700 publications/year), dealing with interactions of DNA, RNA (and their analogs and mimetics) with electrically charged surfaces. These interactions mostly include adsorption of nucleic acids (NAs) in the form of nanolayers and transfer of electrons between NAs and electrodes. The results of these studies were applied in the analysis of NAs, including nucleotide sequence analysis or DNA damage.
But why was one of the researchers of the Institute of Biophysics (IBP) invited to write this article? The answer is rather simple. NA electrochemistry originated more than 50 years ago at the IBP in the laboratory of Emil Paleček (EP), being for the first 10 years perhaps the only laboratory in the world dealing with electroreduction and electrooxidation of DNA and RNA. In 1960, EP published an article in Nature (1), showing that DNA is capable to accept or deliver electrons on the interactions with electrodes and that these interactions are sensitive towards changes in the DNA structure. In the same year, altogether 266 articles were published (based on the Web of Science query for DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid) and the EP’s paper ranked 17th when sorted by a number of citations. In the last five years, however, this paper has been the most cited one (among the 266 articles), suggesting the importance of the topic even after 50 years.
For several decades, EP’s laboratory has been the place where important findings with implications for current progress in the NA research were made (Table 1). During the first 30 years, a huge amount of work was done at the IBP involving many EP’s collaborators, such as B. Janík, V Vetterl, V. Brabec, E. Lukášová, M. Vorlíčková, J. Boháček, M. Vojtíšková, I. Postbieglová and since the beginning of the 1980’s, an independent laboratory of V. Brabec with his collaborators contributed to the progress in this field.
In 1967, EP founded a department at IBP oriented towards the electrochemistry of NAs. After the 1969, on the order of the Communist Party City Committee he was removed from his position. In 1976 he was awarded the State Prize for his DNA research and regained his previous function. In 2005, he resigned on his position of the Department Head because of his age. Since 2005 the former PhD student of EP, Associate Professor M. Fojta, has been heading the Department, successfully continuing in the tradition of the NA electrochemistry research. EP currently leads a small group, which predominantly deals with the electrochemistry of proteins.
M. Bartošík, EP’s PhD student since 2007, spent five months in the laboratory of Prof. J. Wang at the UCSD (CA, USA). Until now, he published 8 papers with an average impact factor of 7.37. After his PhD studies, he will join the Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute in Brno.
Table 1. Important findings made during first three decades (1959-1988) in nucleic acid electrochemistry
(year, finding, reference)
1958 DNA, RNA and free bases are electroactive 2, 3
1960 -1961 EC signals of DNA assigned to individual bases. Application of OP for probing the
DNA structure 1,4
1961 DNA adsorption at Hg electrodes 5,6
1962 – 1966 EC studies of DNA premelting, denaturation and hybridization. Tracing of ssDNA in dsDNA samples. Effect of nucleotide sequence on dsDNA signals 7-12
1966 Application of DPP to ss and dsDNA analysis 7,12
1967 DNA damage detection 12,13
1967 DNA interaction with low MW compounds 14-16
1974 DNA surface unwinding 17,18
1976 Polymorphy of the dsDNA structure 19
1978 Introduction of solid electrodes in NA analysis 20
1980 Detection of NA bases with cathodic stripping voltammetry at nanomolar level 21,22
1981 – 1983 Introduction of covalently-bound electroactive labels to DNA 23,24
1986 – 1988 Adsorptive transfer stripping voltammetry/DNA-modified electrodes 25,26
Figure 1.Papers on Electrochemistry of Nucleic Acids between 1958 and 2010. The graph is based on Web of Science query for: a) (polarograph* AND DNA) OR (electrochem* AND DNA) OR (electrochem* AND 'nucleic acid*') in Topic and b) in Year Published. In 1949 – 1957 only one paper was found; this paper claimed polarographic inactivity of nucleic acids. Between 1958 and 1987 the above numbers were corrected by excluding papers out of the field and by adding papers obtained through searching in Author for: Berg H., Miller I. R., Nurnberg H.W., Palecek E., and Reynaud J. [i.e., the scientists who (to our knowledge) significantly contributed to the field in the given period of time]. Starting from 1988 the publication numbers were taken from the Web of Science without any corrections.
(1) Palecek, E. Nature 1960, 188, 656.
(2) Palecek, E. Naturwiss. 1958, 45, 186.
(3) Palecek, E. Collect. Czech. Chem. Commun. 1960, 25, 2283.
(4) Palecek, E. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1961, 51, 1.
(5) Miller, I. R. J. Mol. Biol. 1961, 3, 229.
(6) Miller, I. R. J. Mol. Biol. 1961, 3, 357.
(7) Palecek, E.; Frary, B. D. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 1966, 115, 431.
(8) Palecek, E. J. Mol. Biol. 1965, 11, 839.
(9) Palecek, E. Coll. Czech. Chem. Commun. 1966, 31, 2360.
(10) Palecek, E. J. Mol. Biol. 1966, 20, 263.
(11) Palecek, E. Abhandl. Deut. Akad. Wiss. Berlin 1964, 1, 270.
(12) Palecek, E. Prog. Nucleic Acid Res. Mol. Biol. 1969, 9, 31.
(13) Palecek, E. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1967, 145, 410.
(14) Berg, H. In Topics Bioelectrochem. Bioenerg.; Milazzo, G., Ed; J. Wiley and Sons: London, 1976; Vol. 1; p 39.
(15) Simons, M. J. Trans. Faraday Soc. 1968, 64, 727.
(16) Hillson, P. J. J. Soc. Dyers Colour. 1967, 83, 186.
(17) Palecek, E. Coll. Czech. Chem. Commun. 1974, 39, 3449.
(18) Valenta, P.; Nürnberg, H. W. Biophys. Struct. Mech. 1974, 1, 17.
(19) Palecek, E. Prog. Nucleic Acid Res. Mol. Biol. 1976, 18, 151.
(20) Brabec, V.; Dryhurst, G. J. Electroanal. Chem. 1978, 91, 219.
(21) Palecek, E. Anal. Biochem. 1980, 108, 129.
(22) Palecek, E. Anal. Lett. Pt. B 1980, 13, 331.
(23) Lukasova, E.; Jelen, F.; Palecek, E. Gen. Physiol. Biophys. 1982, 1, 53.
(24) Palecek, E.; Hung, M. A. Anal. Biochem. 1983, 132, 236.
(25) Palecek, E.; Postbieglova, I. J. Electroanal. Chem. 1986, 214, 359.
(26) Palecek, E. Anal. Biochem. 1988, 170, 421.