Probing DNA Stiffness through Optical Fluctuation Analysis of Plasmon Rulers.

ABSTRACT: The distance-dependent plasmon coupling between biopolymer tethered gold or silver nanoparticles forms the foundation for the so-called plasmon rulers. While conventional plasmon ruler applications focus on the detection of singular events in the far-field spectrum, we perform in this Letter a ratiometric analysis of the continuous spectral fluctuations arising from thermal interparticle separation variations in plasmon rulers confined to fluid lipid membranes. We characterized plasmon rulers with different DNA tethers and demonstrate the ability to detect and quantify differences in the plasmon ruler potential and tether stiffness. The influence of the nature of the tether (single-stranded versus double-stranded DNA) and the length of the tether is analyzed. The characterization of the co

SUBMITTER: Chen T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4624404 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature