ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Kinetics of DNA condensation with DPPC: effect of calcium and sodium cations

Alexander Búcsi, Gilda Liskayová, Dominika Galliková, and Daniela Uhríková

Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

E-mail: bucsi@fpharm.uniba.sk

Abstract: Kinetics of DNA condensation with zwitterionic lipid, dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine, in the presence of calcium and sodium cations was investigated using fluorescence stopped-flow technique. The process was followed from two points of view: the changes on DNA were monitored with ethidium bromide, and fluorescently labelled phospholipid was used to follow the changes in the lipid bilayer. The measurements showed different reaction kinetics. In the case of the DNA side, a consecutive reaction mechanism was found, while two-step first-order reaction mechanism described well the processes on the lipid side. Both, sodium and calcium cations influence significantly the reaction mechanism. Calcium is necessary to condensate DNA with lipid, while sodium modulates the kinetics of the reactions considerably.

Keywords: Lipoplex ; Reaction kinetics ; Fluorescent probe ; Fluorescent label 

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-017-0340-3

Chemical Papers 72 (4) 993–1005 (2018)