Verification of a decrease in the rigidity of the phage [lambda] DNA polymeric chain in low ionic strength aqueous solutions by testing the polymer-polymer interlink interactions

• Published in: Biophysics (Oxford) 2011-08, Vol.56 (4), p.644
• Main Authors: Arutyunyan, A V, Ivanova, M A, Kurlyand, D I, Kapshin, Yu S, Landa, S B, Peshekhonov, S T, Drobchenko, E A, Shevelev, I V
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aqueous solutions; Biophysics; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; Molecular biology; Polymers; Scattering
• ISSN: 0006-3509; 1555-6654
• DOI: 10.1134/S0006350911040026

Changes in the rigidity of the polymeric chain of phage λ double-strand DNA have been studied by laser correlation spectroscopy. It was shown that, as the ionic strength increases, the effect of the screening of the hydrodynamic interaction of the links of the polymeric chain specific for polymeric coils arises in a DNA solution. It is assumed that the screening occurs when the threshold of the overlapping of DNA coils is achieved. The overlapping of coils is the result of a previously observed significant rise of DNA coil size from abnormally small DNA coils in low ionic strength buffers (about 10^sup -2^ M Na^sup +^ or less) to maximum possible large coils in the 5SSC and 5SSC-like buffers. Further analysis of the far interlink interactions in linear lambda phage DNA coils in similar buffers at pH 7 and 4 confirms the earlier proposal about the role of H+ ions in the appearance of abnormally small DNA coils. The abnormal decrease in the DNA coil size in low ionic strength buffers is not a specific feature of λ phage DNA only.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]