Synthesis and structure formation in dilute aqueous solution of a chitosan-DNA hybrid

I. Safir (1) , K.X. Ngo , J. Nixon Abraham , M. Ghahraman Afshar , E. Pavlova (2) , Corinne Nardin (3, 4, 5)

1 ICSN - Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles
2 LIH - Lavrentyev Institute of Hydrodynamics
3 Unibas - Université de Bâle = University of Basel = Basel Universität
4 UNIGE - Université de Genève = University of Geneva
5 IPREM - Institut des sciences analytiques et de physico-chimie pour l'environnement et les materiaux

In the following is described the combination of straight biochemical and organic routes to graft nucleotide sequences to a chitosan backbone. The resulting chitosan-g-ssDNA hybrid self-assembles into submicrometer size structures in dilute aqueous solution as assessed by atomic force and electron microscopy imaging. The hypothesis of self-assembly driven by chemical incompatibility between the amphiphilic chitosan and nucleic acid grafts is supported further by stability of the self-assembly against ionic strength and pH variations. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Domaines: Chimie; Physique [physics]

I. Safir, K.X. Ngo, J. Nixon Abraham, M. Ghahraman Afshar, E. Pavlova, et al.. Synthesis and structure formation in dilute aqueous solution of a chitosan-DNA hybrid. Polymer, 2015, 79, pp.29-36. ⟨10.1016/j.polymer.2015.09.072⟩. ⟨hal-01564175⟩