Investigation of radiation-induced damage in plasmid DNA by scanning probe microscopy

DNA is undoubtedly an exceptionally important biological macromolecule; it is the medium encoding the information that directly or indirectly determines the structural and functional properties of all living organisms. Small structural differences in DNA induced, for example, by particle bombardment or electromagnetic radiation, often have far-reaching consequences and may lead to deleterious stages such as mutation, transformation or even cell death. The purpose of this work is to image the intact as well as damaged DNA using high resolution scanning probe microscopies with the objective to investigate the structural changes of DNA induced by ion radiation.