The prebiotic replication of DNA and RNA is a complex interplay between chemistry and the
environment. Factors that have direct and indirect effects on prebiotic chemistry include …

Absorption of ultraviolet (UV) radiation can trigger a variety of photophysical and
photochemical reactions in nucleic acids. In the prebiotic era, on the surface of the early …

Charge separation is one of the most common consequences of the absorption of UV light
by DNA. Recently, it has been shown that this process can enable efficient self-repair of …

Using as showcase the DNA dinucleotide 5′-dTpdG-3′, in which the thymine (T) is
located at the 5′ end with respect to the guanine (G), we study the photoinduced electronic …

The DNA polarity, ie., the order in which nucleobases are connected together via the
phosphodiester backbone, is crucial for several biological processes. But, so far, there has …

Understanding the sequence-dependent DNA damage formation requires probing a
complete pool of sequences over a wide dose range of the damage-causing exposure. We …

Charge-transfer (CT) states are of special interest in photochemical research because they
can facilitate chemical reactions through the rearrangement of electrons and subsequently …

Nucleic acids can be damaged by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, forming structural photolesions
such as cyclobutane-pyrimidine-dimers (CPD). In modern organisms, sophisticated …

A cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer (CPD) is a photolesion which is produced by a cycloaddition
reaction between two stacked pyrimidine bases upon UV light absorption. Because of its …

There is compelling evidence that the absorption of low-energy UV radiation directly by DNA
in solution generates guanine radicals with quantum yields that are strongly dependent on …