Please do not disturb: destruction of chromatin structure by supravital nucleic acid probes revealed by a novel assay of DNA-histone interaction.

The biomarkers designed to be used supravitally are expected to have minimal effect on structure and function of the cell. Unfortunately nearly all fluorochromes developed to probe live cells interact in undesired way with cellular constituents and affect functional pathways. Herein we comment on potential applications of diverse DNA binding probes in view of the recent article by Wojcik & Dobrucki on DRAQ 5 and SYTO 17. The approach used by these authors to assess DNA-histone interactions using the cells having histones tagged with fluorescent proteins offers a valuable tool to study mechanism of action of antitumor drugs targeting DNA. While the effect of many intercalating drugs may be similar to that of DRAQ5, it may be of particular interest to observe the effects induced by intra-strand and inter-strand DNA crosslinking drugs, alkylating agents, histone deacetylase inhibitors or even anti-metabolites. The cells having histones tagged with fluorescent proteins thus may serve as biomarkers to probe mechanism of action of drugs targeting DNA or affecting chromatin structure. In fact, because such gross chromatin changes as revealed by dissociation and segregation of histones from DNA are most likely incompatible with long-term cell survival, the methodology may be applied for rapid screening of investigational antitumor agents.