DNA-templated semiconductor nanocrystal growth for controlled DNA packing and gene delivery

DNA-templated semiconductor nanocrystal (SNC) growth represents a facile means to generate bioactive hybrid nanostructures by directly integrating DNA molecules and luminescent SNCs together via a one-step synthesis, which has been applied to biosensing and cell imaging. In this study we for the first time demonstrated that DNA-templated CdS SNC growth could also be used to rationally tune the structures and activities of large DNA molecules. We explored the synergistic effects of nanocrystal growth on the sizes and charges of DNA molecules and demonstrate that the CdS growth-induced DNA packing could be used as a smart gene delivery system. Herein we used DNA plasmids encoding intact enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP) genes as templates to grow CdS SNCs and found that the stepwise growth of CdS nanocrystals can spontaneously induce DNA condensation and negative charge shielding in a synergistic manner. The condensed DNA plasmids exhibited efficient cellular uptake and a relative gene transfection efficiency of 32%. The transfection efficiency can be further doubled in the presence of chloroquine. We elucidated that the gene transfection and expression is controlled by reversible DNA packing, where ligand exchange of DNA with intracellular glutathione molecules plays a critical role in the recovery of DNA plasmids for gene expression.