Faculty Publications

Effects Of Intercalating Molecules On The Polymer Properties Of DNA

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Journal of Physical Chemistry B

Volume

124

Issue

39

First Page

8572

Last Page

8582

Abstract

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) enables determination of physical properties from single DNA molecules. Insertion of aromatic molecules into the structure of DNA results in morphological changes. However, the accompanying changes to elastic properties due to this insertion are not fully understood. AFM was used to examine the morphological effects of intercalator binding and report changes in the elastic properties of intrinsically straight DNA molecules. The persistence length and polymer extension were characterized in the presence of three intercalating molecules: ethidium bromide and the less well studied chloroquine and acridine. It was found that all three intercalators significantly increased the bending persistence length. In addition, an analysis of the normal bending modes of the static molecules corroborated these results. This approach of measuring binding effects of intercalators on DNA physical properties using a model system of intrinsically straight DNA is applicable to other DNA binding ligands and other modes of DNA interaction.

Department

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Original Publication Date

10-1-2020

DOI of published version

10.1021/acs.jpcb.0c06867

Repository

UNI ScholarWorks, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa

Language

en

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