title: How can macromolecular crowding inhibit biological reactions? The enhanced formation of DNA nanoparticles.
abstract: In contrast to the already known effect that macromolecular crowding usually promotes biological reactions, solutions of PEG 6k at high concentrations stop the cleavage of DNA by HindIII enzyme, due to the formation of DNA nanoparticles. We characterized the DNA nanoparticles and probed the prerequisites for their formation using multiple techniques such as fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, fluorescence analytical ultracentrifugation etc. In >25% PEG 6k solution, macromolecular crowding promotes the formation of DNA nanoparticles with dimensions of several hundreds of nanometers. The formation of DNA nanoparticles is a fast and reversible process. Both plasmid DNA (2686 bp) and double-stranded/single-stranded DNA fragment (66 bp/nt) can form nanoparticles. We attribute the enhanced nanoparticle formation to the depletion effect of macromolecular crowding. This study presents our idea to enhance the formation of DNA nanoparticles by macromolecular crowding, providing the first step towards a final solution to efficient gene therapy.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS, Kasprzaka 44/52, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Sen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS, Kasprzaka 44/52, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Trochimczyk
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS, Kasprzaka 44/52, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Lili
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS, Kasprzaka 44/52, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wisniewska
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS, Kasprzaka 44/52, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kalwarczyk
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS, Kasprzaka 44/52, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Xuzhu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Division of Biophysics, Institute of Experimental Physics, Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw, al. Zwirki i Wigury 93, 02-089 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Beata
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wielgus-Kutrowska
authors.affiliation: Division of Biophysics, Institute of Experimental Physics, Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw, al. Zwirki i Wigury 93, 02-089 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bzowska
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS, Kasprzaka 44/52, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Holyst
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded / Q000737:chemistry; D015247:Deoxyribonuclease HindIII; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D010957:Plasmids / Q000737:chemistry; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence
chemical_list: D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; C000595215:Polyethylene Glycol 6000; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D004247:DNA; D015247:Deoxyribonuclease HindIII