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Updated: Jun 12, 2026

On-chip Isotachophoresis for Separation of Ions and Purification of Nucleic Acids
Published on: March 2, 2012
Electric and Electrophoretic Inversion of the DNA Charge in Multivalent Electrolytes
Binquan Luan1, Aleksei Aksimentiev
1IBM Physical Science Division, PO Box 218, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598.
None:
Counterion-induced inversion of the DNA charge was characterized through extensive molecular dynamics simulations. We observed reversal of the DNA motion in an external electric field upon increasing the concentration of trivalent or quadrivalent counterions. In the case of a divalent electrolyte, inversion of the DNA's electric charge was observed at high concentrations of the electrolyte but not reversal of the DNA' electrophoretic motion. We demonstrate that inversion of the DNA's electrophoretic mobility results from a complex interplay of electrostatics and hydrodynamics.
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