TY - JOUR

T1 - DNA interaction with a polyelectrolyte monolayer at solution—air interface

AU - Chirkov, Nikolay S.

AU - Campbell, Richard A.

AU - Michailov, Alexander V.

AU - Vlasov, Petr S.

AU - Noskov, Boris A.

N1 - Funding Information: Funding: This research was funded by Russian Science Foundation, grant number 21-13-00039. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

PY - 2021/8/22

Y1 - 2021/8/22

N2 - The formation of ordered 2D nanostructures of double stranded DNA molecules at various interfaces attracts more and more focus in medical and engineering research, but the underlying intermolecular interactions still require elucidation. Recently, it has been revealed that mixtures of DNA with a series of hydrophobic cationic polyelectrolytes including poly(N,N-diallyl-N-hexyl-N-methylammonium) chloride (PDAHMAC) form a network of ribbonlike or threadlike aggregates at the solution—air interface. In the present work, we adopt a novel approach to confine the same polyelectrolyte at the solution—air interface by spreading it on a subphase with elevated ionic strength. A suite of techniques–rheology, microscopy, ellipsometry, and spectroscopy–are applied to gain insight into main steps of the adsorption layer formation, which results in non-monotonic kinetic dependencies of various surface properties. A long induction period of the kinetic dependencies after DNA is exposed to the surface film results only if the initial surface pressure corresponds to a quasiplateau region of the compression isotherm of a PDAHMAC monolayer. Despite the different aggregation mechanisms, the micromorphology of the mixed PDAHMAC/DNA does not depend noticeably on the initial surface pressure. The results provide new perspective on nanostructure formation involving nucleic acids building blocks.

AB - The formation of ordered 2D nanostructures of double stranded DNA molecules at various interfaces attracts more and more focus in medical and engineering research, but the underlying intermolecular interactions still require elucidation. Recently, it has been revealed that mixtures of DNA with a series of hydrophobic cationic polyelectrolytes including poly(N,N-diallyl-N-hexyl-N-methylammonium) chloride (PDAHMAC) form a network of ribbonlike or threadlike aggregates at the solution—air interface. In the present work, we adopt a novel approach to confine the same polyelectrolyte at the solution—air interface by spreading it on a subphase with elevated ionic strength. A suite of techniques–rheology, microscopy, ellipsometry, and spectroscopy–are applied to gain insight into main steps of the adsorption layer formation, which results in non-monotonic kinetic dependencies of various surface properties. A long induction period of the kinetic dependencies after DNA is exposed to the surface film results only if the initial surface pressure corresponds to a quasiplateau region of the compression isotherm of a PDAHMAC monolayer. Despite the different aggregation mechanisms, the micromorphology of the mixed PDAHMAC/DNA does not depend noticeably on the initial surface pressure. The results provide new perspective on nanostructure formation involving nucleic acids building blocks.

KW - Adsorption kinetics

KW - Dilatational surface rheology

KW - DNA

KW - Dynamic surface tension

KW - Langmuir monolayers

KW - Network formation

KW - Poly(N,N-diallyl-N-alkyl-N-methylammonium chloride)

KW - Polyelectrolytes

KW - AIR/WATER INTERFACE

KW - network formation

KW - VISCOELASTICITY

KW - REFLECTANCE

KW - N-diallyl-N-alkyl-N-methylammonium chloride)

KW - SURFACE COMPLEXATION

KW - CATIONIC LIPID MONOLAYERS

KW - IONIC-STRENGTH

KW - 2-DIMENSIONAL NETWORK STRUCTURE

KW - poly(N

KW - dynamic surface tension

KW - dilatational surface rheology

KW - TRANSFECTION

KW - polyelectrolytes

KW - FILMS

KW - adsorption kinetics

KW - WATER-INTERFACE

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85113822024&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/polym13162820

DO - 10.3390/polym13162820

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85113822024

VL - 13

JO - Polymers

JF - Polymers

SN - 2073-4360

IS - 16

M1 - 2820

ER -