Introduction The aim of this study was to investigate the sterilization potential of atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) and interactions of this technology with double-stranded DNA using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) techniques. Materials and Methods The plasma jet was produced through a high voltage sinusoidal power supply using a mixture of argon and oxygen gases with the flow rate of 1 L/min. Escherichia coli cells and double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) fragments were amplified by T7 universal primer through the PCR technique and treated with argon/oxygen APPJ at different exposure times. The data were analyzed by the agarose and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, SSCP and renewed PCR techniques. Results According to the results of the study, the APPJ could serve as an effective instrument for sterilization at > 30 sec discharge. The destruction of DNA was detectable by different techniques after 120 sec from APPJ discharge. Conclusion Our findings revealed that the active species of plasma can lead to cell death. These species may break or nick the dsDNA, exchange DNA nucleotides, and lead to transition and transversion mutations. These mutagenesis effects of APPJ might be the reason of microorganism cell death after the treatment in addition to other destructive effects of APPJ on macromolecules.
