Abstract
Metallonucleases, which catalyze and repair breaks in DNA strands, were developed because of the requirement for biological control of DNA. They naturally interact with DNA because of their cationic nature, three-dimensional structural profiles, and propensity to carry out hydrolysis, redox, or photoreactions of metal ions and complexes. DNA binding and cleavage are fundamental to cellular transcription and translation, making them a prime target for therapeutic intervention and the creation of structural probes for diagnostic purposes. By inner sphere coordinating with DNA, inorganic compounds like cisplatin and its analogs exhibit anticancer action. Artificial metallonucleases and metal-based chemotherapeutics like cisplatin have been steadily improving over the past few decades. Photo-active octahedral metal complexes have also been effectively employed as light-driven reactive agents and DNA luminescent probes. To enhance their potential as molecular tools for studying genetic material, a current trend involves designing bifunctional assemblies in which a reactive or nucleic acid-recognizing moiety is attached to a photo-active metal centre via a flexible linker. According to this theory, novel metal complexes have been created that either directly conduct redox reactions with DNA or use open coordination sites to facilitate DNA binding and hydrolysis. They can also produce reactive oxygen-containing species or other radicals for DNA oxidation. In addition to cleavage patterns like hydrolytic, oxidative, and photoinduced DNA cleavage, this review briefly discusses drug molecule interaction factors, modes of DNA binding via groove binders, intercalators, and alkylators, and uses the mechanism of cisplatin as an example.