Issue 37, 2014

Trehalose facilitates DNA melting: a single-molecule optical tweezers study

Abstract

Using optical tweezers, here we show that the overstretching transition force of double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) is lowered significantly by the addition of the disaccharide trehalose as well as certain polyol osmolytes. This effect is found to depend linearly on the logarithm of the trehalose concentration. We propose an entropic driving mechanism for the experimentally observed destabilization of dsDNA that is rooted in the higher affinity of the DNA bases for trehalose than for water, which promotes base exposure and DNA melting. Molecular dynamics simulation reveals the direct interaction of trehalose with nucleobases. Experiments with other osmolytes confirm that the extent of dsDNA destabilization is governed by the ratio between polar and apolar fractions of an osmolyte.

Graphical abstract: Trehalose facilitates DNA melting: a single-molecule optical tweezers study

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
12 Jul 2014
Accepted
25 Jul 2014
First published
06 Aug 2014

Soft Matter, 2014,10, 7269-7277

Trehalose facilitates DNA melting: a single-molecule optical tweezers study

S. Bezrukavnikov, A. Mashaghi, R. J. van Wijk, C. Gu, L. J. Yang, Y. Q. Gao and S. J. Tans, Soft Matter, 2014, 10, 7269 DOI: 10.1039/C4SM01532K

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