Manganese-deoxyribonucleic acid binding modes. Nuclear magnetic relaxation dispersion results.

Ion-DNA interactions are discussed and the applied magnetic field strength dependence of water proton spin-lattice relaxation rates is used to study the Mn(II)-DNA interaction both qualitatively and quantitatively. Associations in which the manganese II (Mn(II)) ion is completely immobilized on the DNA are identified as well as a range of associations in which the ion is only partially reorientationally restricted. Quantitative analysis of the strength of the association in which manganese is immobilized is carried out both with and without a counter-ion condensation correction for electrostatic attraction of the mobile ions. From competition experiments with manganese the relative strengths of the interactions of magnesium and calcium with DNA are found to be identical but less than that of manganese with DNA and the affinity of lithium for DNA is found to be slightly higher than that of sodium. The data demonstrate that the reduced mobility of nonsite-bound ions may have a significant effect on DNA-ion binding analyses performed using magnetic resonance and relaxation methods.