Do Uv Photons Cause Dimers to Form?

Although UV photons of different energies have various effects on DNA, the most important damage to DNA is the formation of pyrimidine dimers

pyrimidine dimers
Pyrimidine dimers are molecular lesions formed from thymine or cytosine bases in DNA via photochemical reactions. Ultraviolet light (UV) induces the formation of covalent linkages between consecutive bases along the nucleotide chain in the vicinity of their carbon–carbon double bonds.
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. ... Dimers are formed in DNA most efficiently by UV-C, less efficiently by UV-B, and very little by UV-A action.

How does UV cause thymine dimers?

Ultraviolet light is absorbed by a double bond in thymine and cytosine bases in DNA. This added energy opens up the bond and allows it to react with a neighboring base. ... The most common reaction is shown here: two thymine bases have formed a tight thymine dimer, with two bonds gluing the bases together.

Does UV light cause dimers?

UVB light causes thymine base pairs next to each other in genetic sequences to bond together into pyrimidine dimers, a disruption in the strand, which reproductive enzymes cannot copy. It causes sunburn and it triggers the production of melanin.

David Miller

David Miller

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