Wormlike lipid/DNA micelles in a non-polar solvent
A Hohner1, J Bayer, J O Rädler
1Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, D-80539, München, Germany.
Abstract:
The phase behavior of DOPE/DOTAP-DNA complexes in phase-separated oil(dodecane)/water mixtures was explored using Small Angle X-Ray Scattering (SAXS) and Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS). Inverse micelles of DNA with cationic-lipid coating were found in the oil phase. Varying the ratio between cationic and neutral lipids a transition from wormlike to spherical structures is observed for both long ( approximately 75000bp) and short (30-1246bp) DNA. In contrast to lipid/DNA complexes in the water phase, there is no indication of condensed liquid-crystalline structures in the non-polar phase. In fact, FCS measurements on short DNA oligomers complexed with cationic lipid in alkane give clear evidence for monomeric inverse micelles of DNA. Dilution series revealed a critical lower concentration of lipids and DNA for observing lipid/DNA micelles.
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