title: Lipophilic nucleic acids--a flexible construction kit for organization and functionalization of surfaces.
abstract: Lipophilic nucleic acids have become a versatile tool for structuring and functionalization of lipid bilayers and biological membranes as well as cargo vehicles to transport and deliver bioactive compounds, like interference RNA, into cells by taking advantage of reversible hybridization with complementary strands. This contribution reviews the different types of conjugates of lipophilic nucleic acids, and their physicochemical and self-assembly properties. Strategies for choosing a nucleic acid, lipophilic modification, and linker are discussed. Interaction with lipid membranes and its stability, dynamic structure and assembly of lipophilic nucleic acids upon embedding into biological membranes are specific points of the review. A large diversity of conjugates including lipophilic peptide nucleic acid and siRNA provides tailored solutions for specific applications in bio- and nanotechnology as well as in cell biology and medicine, as illustrated through some selected examples.
authors.affiliation: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institut für Biologie, Invalidenstr. 42, 10115 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schade
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica, Universita' di Firenze & CSGI, Via della Lastruccia 3, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze, Italy.
authors.forename: Debora
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Berti
authors.affiliation: Universität Leipzig, Institut für Medizinische Physik und Biophysik, Härtelstr. 16-18, 04107 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huster
authors.affiliation: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institut für Biologie, Invalidenstr. 42, 10115 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Herrmann
authors.affiliation: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institut für Biologie, Invalidenstr. 42, 10115 Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: arbuzova@cms.hu-berlin.de.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arbuzova
mesh_terms: D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D004548:Elasticity; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D008954:Models, Biological; D009696:Nucleic Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D009696:Nucleic Acids
keywords: Cells; DNA; Lipophilic nucleotides; Liposomes; Membranes; Self-assembly