DNA Penetration into a Lysozyme Layer at the Surface of Aqueous Solutions

The interactions of DNA with lysozyme in the surface layer were studied by performing infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (IRRAS), ellipsometry, surface tensiometry, surface dilational rheology, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). A concentrated DNA solution was injected into an aqueous subphase underneath a spread lysozyme layer. While the optical properties of the surface layer changed fast after DNA injection, the dynamic dilational surface elasticity almost did not change, thereby indicating no continuous network formation of DNA/lysozyme complexes, unlike the case of DNA interactions with a monolayer of a cationic synthetic polyelectrolyte. A relatively fast increase in optical signals after a DNA injection under a lysozyme layer indicates that DNA penetration is controlled by diffusion. At low surface pressures, the AFM images show the formation of long strands in the surface layer. Increased surface compression does not lead to the formation of a network of DNA/lysozyme aggregates as in the case of a mixed layer of DNA and synthetic polyelectrolytes, but to the appearance of some folds and ridges in the layer. The formation of more disordered aggregates is presumably a consequence of weaker interactions of lysozyme with duplex DNA and the stabilization, at the same time, of loops of unpaired nucleotides at high local lysozyme concentrations in the surface layer.