Apparent sequence preference in cleavage of linear B-DNA by the Cu(II):thiol system.

Cleavage of a linear tyr T fragment of duplex DNA by Cu(II):thiol combinations occurs with apparent sequence preference. The sequence selectivity was unaffected by the size, chirality or substitution pattern of the monothiol partner, presumably indicating that the Cu(II):RSH system is probing some local conformational/dynamic aspect of the DNA.