title: CTAB enhancement of FRET in DNA structures.
abstract: The effect of cetyl-trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) on enhancing the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between two dye-conjugated DNA strands was studied using fluorescence emission spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering (DLS). For hybridized DNA where one strand is conjugated with a TAMRA donor and the other with a TexasRed acceptor, increasing the concentration of CTAB changes the fluorescence emission properties and improves the FRET transfer efficiency through changes in the polarity of the solvent, neutralization of the DNA backbone and micelle formation. For the DNA FRET system without CTAB, the DNA hybridization leads to contact quenching between TAMRA donor and TexasRed acceptor producing reduced donor emission and only a small increase in acceptor emission. At 50 µM CTAB, however, the sheathing and neutralization of the dye-conjugated dsDNA structure significantly reduces quenching by DNA bases and dye interactions, producing a large increase in FRET efficiency, which is almost four fold higher than without CTAB.
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California, San Diego, 9500, Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Taeseok
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, 9500, Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Tsukasa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California, San Diego, 9500, Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Sejung
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of NanoEngineering, University of California, San Diego, 9500, Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. mheller@ucsd.edu.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Heller
mesh_terms: D000077286:Cetrimonium; D002593:Cetrimonium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D031541:Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer / Q000379:methods*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D014966:Xanthenes / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D002593:Cetrimonium Compounds; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; D014966:Xanthenes; C034657:Texas red; D004247:DNA; D000077286:Cetrimonium
keywords: CTAB; DNA; FRET; TAMRA; TexasRed