[Measuring the bleomycin-induced paired damage of two DNA chains by a method of psoralen photocross-linking].

DNA of bacteriophage PM2 was allowed to react with bleomycin in the presence of Fe(II) and oxygen and the "paired" DNA lesions of two types were measured: (1) double-strand breaks, (2) lesions converted to double-strand breaks after introducing into the DNA a large number of psoralen cross-links (about 10(-2) per base pair) and alkali treatment. The mean numbers of each lesion type per DNA molecule are found to be proportional to the square of bleomycin concentration over the range of 3 X 10(-7) to 3 X 10(-6) M. These findings indicate that paired lesions are formed as a result of action of two bleomycin molecules at the same DNA site.