Stability of End-to-End Base Stacking Interactions in Highly Concentrated DNA Solutions
Not provided.
Chemistry↗
Engineering topics
Balci, Hamza
Publications and source records attributed to Balci, Hamza.
Smectic-B phase and temperature-driven smectic-B to -A transition in concentrated solutions of “gapped” DNA
Not Available
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
Mono- and bilayer smectic liquid crystal ordering in dense solutions of “gapped” DNA duplexes
Significance Liquid crystalline behavior of DNA has been studied for decades, yet only recently has one of the most fundamental liquid crystal phases—the smectic phase in which rod-like objects assemble into stacks of fluid layers—been demonstrated in this system. Here, we describe distinct bilayer and monolayer smectic phases in solutions of “gapped” DNA (GDNA), consisting of two DNA duplexes connected by a single strand. The smectic order is amphotropic (sensitive to temperature as well as concentration), and the layer structure is stable against significant perturbations of the GDNA construct (e.g., “gap” length variation and asymmetry in duplex lengths). The temperature sensitivity may provide a means to compare end-to-end interaction strengths between DNA duplexes at biologically relevant concentrations.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗