The adsorption-desorption transition of double-stranded DNA interacting with an oppositely charged dendrimer induced by multivalent anions

YW Jiang and D Zhang and YY Zhang and ZY Deng and LX Zhang, JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS, 140, 204912 (2014).

DOI: 10.1063/1.4878508

The adsorption-desorption transition of DNA in DNA-dendrimer solutions is observed when high-valence anions, such as hexavalent anions, are added to the DNA-dendrimer solutions. In the DNA-dendrimer solutions with low-valence anions, dendrimers bind tightly with the V-shaped double-stranded DNA. When high-valence anions, such as pentavalent or hexavalent anions, are added to the DNA-dendrimer solutions, the double- stranded DNA chains can be stretched straightly and the dendrimers are released from the double-stranded DNA chains. In fact, adding high- valence anions to the solutions can change the charge spatial distribution in the DNA-dendrimer solutions, and weaken the electrostatic interactions between the positively charged dendrimers and the oppositely charged DNA chains. Adsorption-desorption transition of DNA is induced by the overcharging of dendrimers. This investigation is capable of helping us understand how to control effectively the release of DNA in gene/drug delivery because an effective gene delivery for dendrimers includes non-covalent DNA-dendrimer binding and the effective release of DNA in gene therapy. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

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