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Amplifying the macromolecular crowding effect using nanoparticles.

Ahmed Zaki¹, Neeshma Dave, Juewen Liu

¹Department of Chemistry, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada.

Journal of the American Chemical Society

|December 20, 2011

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Attaching short DNA to gold nanoparticles significantly increases DNA melting temperature, even with low molecular weight polyethylene glycol (PEG). This nanoscale effect enhances DNA stability through macromolecular crowding.

Area of Science:

Nanotechnology
Biochemistry
Materials Science

Background:

DNA melting temperature (T(m)) is influenced by salt and crowding agents like polyethylene glycol (PEG).
Short DNAs with low molecular weight PEGs show minimal excluded volume change, thus no T(m) increase.
Nanoparticle geometry can alter excluded volume effects.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how attaching DNA to gold nanoparticles affects T(m) in the presence of PEG.
To explore the role of excluded volume changes at the nanoscale.
To demonstrate enhanced stabilization of DNA through nanoparticle interactions.

Main Methods:

Synthesizing 12-mer DNA strands attached to gold nanoparticles (AuNPs).
Measuring DNA melting temperature (T(m)) in solutions with varying PEG molecular weights and concentrations.

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Analyzing the impact of nanoparticle size and PEG properties on DNA stability.

Main Results:

Attaching DNA to AuNPs significantly increased T(m), even with low molecular weight PEG (PEG 200).
Larger AuNPs, higher molecular weight PEGs, and increased PEG concentrations further enhanced DNA stabilization.
A substantial increase in excluded volume change upon DNA melting was observed due to nanoparticle attachment.

Conclusions:

Nanoparticle attachment creates a significant geometric effect, increasing excluded volume change and stabilizing DNA.
This study reveals a unique nanoscale phenomenon enhancing macromolecular crowding effects.
Weak interactions can be stabilized by combining polyvalent binding with nanoparticle-mediated crowding.