Permanganate oxidation reactions of DNA: perspective in biological studies.

KMnO4 has been well known as a powerful chemical probe for numerous applications in biological fields, particularly for those used in conformational studies of DNA. The KMnO4 assay provides essential information for understanding biochemical processes and detecting aberrant DNA, which is associated with many genetic diseases. Elegant examples are sequencing techniques, foot-printing assays for transcriptional studies, an interference method for hormone receptor binding assays as well as DNA conformational studies of Z-DNA, Z-Z junctions, hairpins, curvatures, short nucleotide base repeats, binding of intercalators and groove binders, etc.

Site-selective reactions of imperfectly matched DNA with small chemical molecules: applications in mutation detection.

The last decade has witnessed many exciting scientific publications associated with site-selective reactions of small chemical molecules with imperfectly matched DNA. Typical examples are carbodiimide, hydroxylamine, potassium permanganate, osmium tetroxide, chemical tagging probes, biotinylated, chemiluminescent and fluorescent probes, and all of them selectively react with imperfectly matched DNA. More recently, some therapeutic agents including DNA intercalating drugs and groove binders have been found to promote the in vivo repair system to recognize and repair the mismatch more effectively.