New Study Sheds Light On 'Dark States' In DNA

... Chemists at Ohio State University have probed an unusual high-energy state produced in single nucleotides -- the building blocks of DNA and RNA -- when they absorb ultraviolet (UV) light. This is the first time scientists have been able to probe the "dark" energy state -- so called because it cannot be detected by fluorescence techniques used to study other high-energy states created in DNA by UV light. ...