Table 1.

Quantitative results at selected data points (compare Fig. 1) from gel electrophoresis and AFM outlining the formation of different pUC19 isoforms during irradiation with electrons, performed with and without ectoine.

pUC19	number of primary electrons [∙10¹²] per 300 s	Effective irradiation dose [Gy]	undamaged plasmids		damaged plasmids
			supercoiled		open circular		linearized (~913 nm)		fragmented
			Gel data Relative Fluorescence signal %	AFM data Mean % ± STD	Gel data Relative Fluorescence signal %	AFM data Mean % ± STD	Gel data Relative Fluorescence signal %	AFM data Mean % ± STD	AFM Data
without ectoine	0.305	0.2	49	63 ± 15	51	35 ± 13	0	2 ± 3	no
	21.14	14.07	*	**	*	**	*	**	yes**
with ectoine (1 mol/l)	0.394	0.26	58	60 ± 3	42	33 ± 3	0	7 ± 2	no
	23.78	15.83	85	84 ± 8	15	15 ± 7	0	1 ± 1	no

*Only ocDNA and linear DNA, respectively, were detected. Quantification was not possible since ocDNA and linear DNA could not be distinguished by gel electrophoresis.

**Highly fragmented DNA was the main DNA species found by AFM.

For further details see discussion.