Abstract
Due to the central role of DNA, its interactions with inorganic salts and small organic molecules are important. For example, such interactions play important roles in various fundamental cellular processes in living systems and are involved in many DNA-damage related diseases. Strategies to improve the sensitivity of existing techniques for studying DNA interactions with other molecules would be appreciated in situations where the interactions are too weak. Here we report our development and demonstration of bent DNA bows for amplifying, sensing, and detecting the interactions of 14 inorganic salts and small organic molecules with DNA. With the bent DNA bows, these interactions were easily visualized and quantified in gel electrophoresis, which were difficult to measure without bending. In addition, the strength of the interactions of DNA with the various salts/molecules were quantified using the modified Hill equation. This work highlights the amplification effects of the bending elastic energy stored in the DNA bows and the potential use of the DNA bows for quantitatively measuring DNA interactions with small molecules as simple economic methods; it may also pave the way for exploiting the bent DNA bows for other applications such as screening DNA-interacting molecules and drugs.
Highlights
DNA is one of the most essential elements of life, and its interactions with inorganic salts and small organic molecules are important for many reasons [1,2]
Considering that the double-stranded segment of DNA bows has a length of 30 bp, the measured arc length of the DNA bows was consistent with previous reports from direct Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) imaging of DNA structures and X-ray data [50], confirming that the dark bending structures in the TEM images were bent, double-stranded segment of the Sensors 2020, 20, x FOR2020, PEER20, REVIEW
We demonstrated the application of bent DNA bows as amplifiers and sensors for detecting and quantifying the interactions between DNA and 14 different inorganic salts and small organic molecules
Summary
DNA is one of the most essential elements of life, and its interactions with inorganic salts and small organic molecules are important for many reasons [1,2] Understanding these interactions is critical for understanding various fundamental cellular processes in living systems [1,3,4,5]. Heavy metal ions and various chemical carcinogens and mutagens interact and react with DNA directly or indirectly, causing many human cancers [12,13,14]. Understanding these DNA interactions helps to discover, design and develop inhibitors and drugs targeting DNA for treating various diseases [15,16,17]. It is important to understand the interactions between DNA and inorganic salts or small organic molecules
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