Attractive hydration forces in DNA-dendrimer interactions on the nanometer scale.

ABSTRACT: The energetic contribution of attractive hydration forces arising from water ordering is an interesting but often neglected aspect of macromolecular interactions. Ordering effects of water can bring about cooperativity in many intermolecular transactions, in both the short and long range. Given its high charge density, this is of particular importance for DNA. For instance, in nanotechnology, highly charged dendrimers are used for DNA compaction and transfection. Hypothesizing that water ordering and hydration forces should be maximal for DNA complexes that show charge complementarity (positive-negative), we present here an analysis of water ordering from molecular dynamics simulations and free energy calculations of the interaction between DNA and a nanoparticle with a high positive charg

SUBMITTER: Mills M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3633417 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature