Chloroacetaldehyde reacts with Z-DNA.

ABSTRACT

We show that chloroacetaldehyde, a chemical compound known to be reactive with unpaired adenine and cytosine residues, reacts with adenine residues (syn conformation) but not with cytosine residues (anti conformation) within Z-DNA. These modified residues are sensitive to cleavage by piperidine, which allows mapping at the single nucleotide level.