Volume 13, Issue 12 e202000150
FULL ARTICLE

Investigation of genomic DNA methylation by ultraviolet resonant Raman spectroscopy

Francesco D'Amico

Corresponding Author

Francesco D'Amico

Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste, Trieste, Italy

Correspondence

Francesco D'Amico, Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A. Strada Statale 14 - km 163,5 in AREA Science Park, 34149 Basovizza, Trieste, ITALY.

Email: [email protected]

Search for more papers by this author
Paolo Zucchiatti

Paolo Zucchiatti

Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste, Trieste, Italy

Department of Physics, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy

Plasmon Nanotechnologies line, IIT, Genoa, Italy

Search for more papers by this author
Katia Latella

Katia Latella

Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste, Trieste, Italy

Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Genova, Genoa, Italy

Search for more papers by this author
Maria Pachetti

Maria Pachetti

Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste, Trieste, Italy

Department of Physics, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy

Search for more papers by this author
Alessandro Gessini

Alessandro Gessini

Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste, Trieste, Italy

Search for more papers by this author
Claudio Masciovecchio

Claudio Masciovecchio

Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste, Trieste, Italy

Search for more papers by this author
Lisa Vaccari

Lisa Vaccari

Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste, Trieste, Italy

Search for more papers by this author
Lorella Pascolo

Lorella Pascolo

Institute for Maternal and Child Health, IRCCS Burlo Garofolo, Trieste, Italy

Search for more papers by this author
First published: 29 July 2020
Citations: 13

Abstract

Cytosine plays a preeminent role in DNA methylation, an epigenetic mechanism that regulates gene expression, the misregulation of which can lead to severe diseases. Several methods are nowadays employed for assessing the global DNA methylation levels, but none of them combines simplicity, high sensitivity, and low operating costs to be translated into clinical applications. Ultraviolet (UV) resonant Raman measurements at excitation wavelengths of 272 nm, 260 nm, 250 nm, and 228 nm have been carried out on isolated deoxynucleoside triphosphates (dNTPs), on a dNTP mixture as well as on genomic DNA (gDNA) samples, commercial from salmon sperm and non-commercial from B16 murine melanoma cell line. The 228 nm excitation wavelength was identified as the most suitable energy for enhancing cytosine signals over the other DNA bases. The UV Raman measurements performed at this excitation wavelength on hyper-methylated and hypo-methylated DNA from Jurkat leukemic T-cell line have revealed significant spectral differences with respect to gDNA isolated from salmon sperm and mouse melanoma B16 cells. This demonstrates how the proper choice of the excitation wavelength, combined with optimized extraction protocols, makes UV Raman spectroscopy a suitable technique for highlighting the chemical modifications undergone by cytosine nucleotides in gDNA upon hyper- and hypo-methylation events.image

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The authors declare no financial or commercial conflict of interest.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Data available on request from the authors

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.