Reversible photo-cross-linking of the GCN4 peptide containing 3-cyanovinylcarbazole amino acid to double-stranded DNA.

Interaction analysis in vivo greatly promotes the analyses and understanding of biological functions. The interaction between DNA and peptides or proteins is very important in terms of readout and amplifying information from genomic DNA. In this study, we designed and synthesized a photo-cross-linkable amino acid, l-3-cyanovinlycarbazole amino acid (l-CNVA), to double-stranded DNA. Reversible photo-cross-linking between DNA and peptides containing CNVA, having 3-cyanovinylcarbazole moieties capable of photo-cross-linking to nucleic acids, was demonstrated. As a result, it was shown that the GCN4 peptide, containing CNVA, can be photo-cross-linked to DNA, and its adduct was photo-split into the original peptide and DNA with 312 nm-irradiation. This is the first report that reversibly manipulates photo-crosslinking between double stranded DNA and peptides. In addition, this reversible photo-cross-linking, using l-CNVA, is faster and with higher yield than that using diazirine and psoralen.