Spectroscopic Studies of the Interaction of Silver Nanoparticle with Calf Thymus DNA

Numerous biological experiments have demonstrated that DNA is the primary intracellular target of drugs due to the interaction between small molecules and DNA, which can cause DNA damage in cancer cells, blocking the division of cancer cells and resulting in cell death.1-2 There are two principal modes by which drugs can bind noncovalently to DNA: intercalation and minor groove binding. Metals are able to interact (covalently or not) with DNA through the electron-offering DNA bases and phosphate groups establishing either inter or intra-strand interactions, among others. 3 Since there is an increasing interest in understanding and controlling the interactions of nanomaterials with biological molecules such as proteins and DNA3 then, in present study, the interaction of silver nanoparticle with calf thymus DNA was investigated by a variety of spectroscopic techniques.