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Repression of Multiple Myeloma Cell Growth In Vivo by Single-wall Carbon Nanotube (SWCNT)-delivered MALAT1 Antisense Oligos
Published on: December 13, 2018
Translocation and encapsulation of siRNA inside carbon nanotubes
Santosh Mogurampelly1, Prabal K Maiti
1Centre for Condensed Matter Theory, Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India. santosh@physics.iisc.ernet.in
Abstract:
We report spontaneous translocation of small interfering RNA (siRNA) inside carbon nanotubes (CNTs) of various diameters and chirality using all atom molecular dynamics simulations with explicit solvent. We use umbrella sampling method to calculate the free energy landscape of the siRNA entry and translocation event. Free energy profiles show that siRNA gains free energy while translocating inside CNT, and barrier for siRNA exit from CNT ranges from 40 to 110 kcal/mol depending on CNT chirality and salt concentration. The translocation time τ decreases with the increase of CNT diameter with a critical diameter of 24 Å for the translocation. In contrast, double strand DNA of the same sequence does not translocate inside CNT due to large free energy barrier for the translocation. This study helps in understanding the nucleic acid transport through nanopores at microscopic level and may help designing carbon nanotube based sensor for siRNA.
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