Copper(I) ion shut down polymerase chain reaction (PCR)

Recent study present that monovalent Copper (Cu(I)) is a strong antimicrobial agent¹, It active in orders of magnitude more, compare to silver ion (Ag(I)) and compare to divalent copper and metallic copper that show no activity at all in controlled conditions.

Although the mechanism of Cu(I) antimicrobial effect is not yet fully understood, Our findings suggest fast lethal metabolism damage. In the kinetic experiments, Cu(I) eliminated all microorganisms with less than 20 min of incubation and microscope morphology of E. Coli MG-1655 E observed mortality of bacteria with almost no Lysis in 30 min (un published results).

Other study show that Cu(I) interact strongly with ATP and adenozin, stabilizing the Cu(I) over Cu(II), suggest a passable mechanism of Cu(I) antimicrobial effect.

To support the suggested mechanism, we study the influence of Zn(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Cu(I) on Polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a method widely used in molecular biology to make multiple copies of a specific DNA segment using DNA polymerase. The enzyme needs ATP for functioning. It may be speculated that Cu(I) strong interaction with adenozin inhibit the enzyme.

We present result from ordinary PCR system in aerobic and anaerobic condition that show dramatic influence of Cu(I) on the replication of DNA.

Keywords: Copper (I) ion, Antibacterial effect, PCR, ATP, Enzyme inhibitor

*Magal saphier, Eldad Silberstein, Yoram Shotland, Stanislav Popov and Oshra Saphier, "Prevalence of Monovalent Copper Over Divalent in Killing Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus" Current Microbiology, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-017-1398-4, 2017