Use of morpholinonucleosides to conjugate oxidized DNA bases to proteins.

The universal method of Erlanger and Beiser was unsuccessful in conjugating 5-hydroxycytidine to proteins because of the instability of the base under the conditions used. A new strategy was developed to conjugate fragile modified nucleosides to proteins. This involves the use of morpholino derivatives of modified nucleosides. The validity of this method was demonstrated by the production of polyclonal antibodies specific for the DNA modification, 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine.