[Enhanced structural transformations in DNA macromolecules exposed to weak thermalized neutron field].

We examined now an ultraweak thermalized neutron field (UTNF) affects the structural transformation in DNA macromolecules at room temperature. IR-spectroscopy, electrophoresis, and filtration through nitrocellulose filter measurements revealed that UTNF irradiation with a fluence of F(n) - 1.0 - 3.7 x 10(7) n/cm2 (the absorbed dose as low as 10 - 50 microGy) can induce non negligible structural changes in DNA macromolecules in film as well as in an aqueous solution. These structural changes appear as a type of reversible conformational transition from the A-form to a disordered state, as well as through intermolecular cross-link formations and the generation of double-strand breaks.