Dichromatic laser radiation effects on DNA of Escherichia coli and plasmids

Dichromatic and consecutive laser radiations have attracted increased attention for clinical applications as offering new tools for the treatment of dysfunctional tissues in situations where monochromatic radiation is not effective. This work evaluated the survival, filamentation and morphology of Escherichia coli cells, and the induction of DNA lesions, in plasmid DNA exposed to low-intensity consecutive dichromatic laser radiation. Exponential and stationary wild type and formamidopyrimidine DNA glycosylase/MutM protein deficient E. coli cultures were exposed to consecutive low-intensity dichromatic laser radiation (infrared laser immediately after red laser) to study the survival, filamentation and morphology of bacterial cells. Plasmid DNA samples were exposed to dichromatic radiation to study DNA lesions by electrophoretic profile. Dichromatic laser radiation affects the survival, filamentation and morphology of E. coli cultures depending on the growth phase and the functional repair mechanism of oxidizing lesions in DNA, but does not induce single/double strands breaks or alkali-labile DNA lesions. Results show that low-intensity consecutive dichromatic laser radiation induces biological effects that differ from those induced by monochromatic laser radiation, suggesting that other therapeutic effects could be obtained using dichromatic radiation.