The detection of genomic DNA from bacterial cells using iron oxide nanoparticles synthesized by a hydrothermal process

Abstract

We used iron oxide nanoparticles in order to extract purified DNA from bacterial cells. Magnetite (Fe3O4) and maghemite (γ-Fe2O3) are synthesized with FeSO4·7H2O via a hydrothermal process and used as a medium to detect DNA. Various characterizations were performed including X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy, vibrating sample magnetometry, and Mossbauer spectroscopy. According to the XRD results, the XRD peaks of the synthesized magnetite and maghemite nanoparticles corresponded well with JCPDS standard data, respectively. The particle size of the iron oxide nanoparticles was about 20 nm, and the particle shape was almost spherical, which was confirmed by observation of the HRTEM image. The magnetite nanoparticles have a face-centeredcubic inverse spinel structure with a space group Fd\( \bar 3 \)m, as confirmed by HRTEM and Mossbauer spectroscopy analyses. An agarose gel eletrophoresis analysis was performed to confirm the extraction ability of DNA using these iron oxide nanoparticles, revealing stronger reaction of the maghemite nanoparticles than the magnetite nanoparticles.