title: Method to improve DNA condensation efficiency by alkali treatment.
abstract: The improvement of DNA's bioactivities by altering their structure is meaningful for their biological applications, ranging from DNA condensation study to gene therapeutic research. In this study, we treated the plasmid DNA with alkali and investigated the structure and the condensation efficiency of the alkali-treated DNA. We noticed that the alkali treatment could significantly increase the DNA condensation efficiency with spermidine and polyethylenimine (PEI). In addition, due to the improved interactions between the alkali-treated DNA and PEI, gene transfection experiments could be performed in the presence of less PEI. This research can contribute to the creation of a universal method to enhance the interaction between DNA and gene delivery vectors by alkali treatment, and should have significant potential in the field of gene therapy.
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Sen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Xinxin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xi-Zeng
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Feng
mesh_terms: D000468:Alkalies / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D010957:Plasmids
chemical_list: D000468:Alkalies; D004247:DNA