Studies of soft X-ray-induced Auger effect on the induction of DNA damage

Yokoya, Akinari; Fujii, Kentaro; Shikazono, Naoya; Akamatsu, Ken; Urushibara, Ayumi; Watanabe, Ritsuko

The role of Auger effect in inducing DNA damage has been studied using soft X-ray irradiation, which mainly cause photoelectric effect of DNA constituent atoms. As a consequence of Auger decay process, ejected low energy photo- or Auger-electrons might impact on proximately chemical group in the molecule. These highly localized collision events are expected to lead to a clustered DNA damage site within a few nano-meter. We have revealed that soft X-ray (60 keV) induced lesions visualized by the enzymatic probes show much higher yields than those induced by low LET -ray irradiation, and the yields decreased with decreasing soft X-ray energy (below a few keV). These results indicate that the complexity of damage site strongly depends on photo- or Auger electron range. The recent progress that has been made in the study of the process of DNA-radicals as precursors using an EPR apparatus combined with a synchrotron soft X-ray source is also presented.