title: Biology of TiO2-oligonucleotide nanocomposites.
abstract: Emerging areas of nanotechnology hold the promise of overcoming the limitations of existing technologies for intracellular manipulation. These new developments provide approaches for the creation of chemical-biological hybrid nanocomposites that can be introduced into cells and subsequently used to initiate intracellular processes or biochemical reactions. Such nanocomposites would advance medical biotechnology, just as they are improving microarray technology and imaging in biology and medicine, and introducing new possibilities in chemistry and material sciences. Here we describe the behaviour of 45-A nanoparticles of titanium dioxide semiconductor combined with oligonucleotide DNA into nanocomposites in vivo and in vitro. These nanocomposites not only retain the intrinsic photocatalytic capacity of TiO2 and the bioactivity of the oligonucleotide DNA (covalently attached to the TiO2 nanoparticle), but also possess the chemically and biologically unique new property of a light-inducible nucleic acid endonuclease, which could become a new tool for gene therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Northwestern University, 303 E. Chicago Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA.
authors.forename: Tatjana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Paunesku
authors.forename: Tijana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rajh
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wiederrecht
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Maser
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vogt
authors.forename: Natasa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Stojićević
authors.forename: Miroslava
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Protić
authors.forename: Barry
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Oryhon
authors.forename: Marion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thurnauer
authors.forename: Gayle
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Woloschak
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001709:Biotechnology; D002460:Cell Line; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D036103:Nanotechnology; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D012666:Semiconductors; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; C009495:titanium dioxide; D014025:Titanium