DNA Topoisomerase Protocols, II: Enzymology and Drugs brings together an unprecedented collection of cutting-edge experimental protocols for investigating the catalytic activities of DNA topoisomerases, as well as their specific interactions with topoisomerase-targeted antitumor and antibacterial drugs. Described by expert experimentalists who have perfected the techniques, these unfailingly reproducible methods include assays for enzyme-catalyzed DNA relaxation/supercoiling, DNA cleavage, DNA nicking, DNA decatenation, and ATP hydrolysis. Several modified DNA substrates, used to dissect enzyme mechanisms by trapping intermediates, are also described. Methodologies to determine the action of topoisomerase-targeted drugs include biochemical assays of drug-induced enzyme-DNA complexes, methods for assaying drug uptake, and cell-based assays for determining drug specificity and mechanisms of resistance. A companion volume, DNA Topoisomerase Protocols, I: DNA Topology and Enzymes, provides state-of-the-art experimental protocols for investigating DNA structure, topology, and DNA topoisomerase function.

DNA Topoisomerase Protocols, II: Enzymology and Drugs provides, for the first time, a comprehensive description of the methods and experimental systems needed to investigate fully the catalytic mechanisms of DNA topoisomerases from bacterial, viral, and eukaryotic sources. For the many basic scientists and clinicians who want better to understand and to exploit the action of topoisomerase-targeted drugs in a variety of in vitro and in vivo systems, it will immediately develop immense value as the new standard reference in the field.