**5.3 Nucleic acid interaction**

Gel electrophoresis can be used to examine the interaction of AMPs with nucleic acids. The mobility of the nucleic acid bands (Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or Ribonucleic acid (RNA)) is typically measured with respect to AMP concentration. When AMP binds to DNA, the band migration rate is reduced or completely inhibited [64]. Ethidium bromide is used to stain the bands, it is an intercalating agent which can insert itself between nitrogenous base pairs in the DNA, thus used as nucleic acid fluorescent tag and detected by Ultraviolet light. For instance, the nucleic acid binding activity of AMP such as buforin II kills *E. coli* cells quickly without lysis, detected by the agarose gel electrophoresis technique [7].
