Chlorine dioxide reactivity with nucleic acids

Abstract Studies were conducted with the bacterial virus f2 to determine the reactivity of chlorine dioxide with viral nucleic acid, and to evaluate the role of these reactions in the inactivation of virus with chloride dioxide. The effect of chlorine dioxide on naked infectious RNA was compared to the inactivation of intact virus and to infectious f2 RNA extracted from virus which was treated with chlorine dioxide. At pH 7.2 and 5°C, greater than 4 log units of virus inactivation were observed within 2 min of contact time. Almost no inactivation of infectious RNA extracted from chlorine dioxide treated virus was observed. Treatment of naked infectious RNA with chlorine dioxide yielded less than 1 log unit of inactivation after 5 min of contact time. The rate of inactivation both f2 virus and infectious RNA by chlorine dioxide increased with increasing pH. Inactivation of f2 infectious RNA was attributed to chlorine dioxide reactions with nucleotides. The reaction of chlorine dioxide within yeast RNA was uniquely associated with guanosine monophosphate (GMP). The reaction between chlorine dioxide and GMP may account for inactivation of naked f2 RNA. However, this reaction does not explain the inactivation of intact f2 virus, as the RNA within the treated virion remains infectious despite several log units of virus inactivation.