Title
Effective control of the intrinsic DNA morphology by photosensitive polyamines
Author
Marco Deiana, Ziemowit Poladek, Katarzyna Matczyszyn, Piotr Mlynarz, Malcolm Buckle, Marek Samoc
Year
2016
Journal
Journal of Materials Chemistry B
Abstract
Non-viral vectors for gene therapy such as DNA-cationic probe complexes offer important bio-safety advantages over viral approaches, due to their reduced pathogenicity, immunogenicity and cytotoxicity. In the present study we examine two polycationic water-soluble azobenzene derivatives (bis-Azo-2N and bis-Azo-3N) containing different linear unsubstituted polyamine moieties and we demonstrate the ability of such photochromes to destabilize the intrinsic B-DNA secondary structure in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, through a detailed series of biophysical experiments, varying the photochrome conformation, temperature, salt and DNA concentration, we provide a detailed insight into the azobenzene-DNA binding pathway (Ka : bis-Azo-2N(trans)-DNA = 5.3 ± 0.3 × 104 M -1, Ka : bis-Azo-2N(cis)-DNA = 2.6 ± 0.2 × 104 M -1, Ka : bis-Azo-3N(trans)-DNA = 7.1 ± 0.4 × 104 M -1 and Ka : bis-Azo-3N(cis)-DNA = 5.1 ± 0.4 × 104 M -1) establishing the versatility of such materials as promising candidates for use in non-viral gene delivery systems.
Instrument
J-815
Keywords
Circular dichroism, Induced CD DNA structure, Ligand binding, Biochemistry, Materials