ABSTRACT
While a major target in DNA photochemistry in the past was to uncover the molecular mechanisms of photoinduced DNA damages and their bio logical consequences, our interest in DNA photochemistry has been focused primarily on the development of new methodologies and techniques for photochemical or laser-induced gene manipulations. In this section recent results in our laboratory on the phototriggered reactions of DNA that are useful as a tool for molecular biology and laser biotechnology are described, by emphasizing how carefully designed photoreactions are useful in DNA technology. These include: (i) the design of photochemical DNAcleaving molecules; (ii) the photochemical conversion of DNA to RNA by a designed photoreaction; and (iii) the template-directed photoreversible ligation of DNA with on-off control.
