Issue 2, 2010
From the journal:

Soft Matter

Electric and electrophoretic inversion of the DNA charge in multivalent electrolytes†

Binquan Luana  and  Aleksei Aksimentiev*b  

* Corresponding authors

a IBM Physical Science Division, PO Box 218, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598, USA

b Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1110 W. Green Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
E-mail: aksiment@illinois.edu

Abstract

Counterion-induced inversion of the DNA charge was characterized through extensive molecular dynamics simulations. We observed reversal of the DNA motion in an external electric field upon increasing the concentration of trivalent or quadrivalent counterions. In the case of a divalent electrolyte, inversion of the DNA's electric charge was observed at high concentrations of the electrolyte but not reversal of the DNA's electrophoretic motion. We demonstrate that inversion of the electrophoretic mobility of the DNA results from a complex interplay of electrostatics and hydrodynamics.

Graphical abstract: Electric and electrophoretic inversion of the DNA charge in multivalent electrolytes

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/B917973A
Article type
Communication
Submitted
01 Sep 2009
Accepted
06 Oct 2009
First published
21 Oct 2009

Soft Matter, 2010,6, 243-246

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Electric and electrophoretic inversion of the DNA charge in multivalent electrolytes

B. Luan and A. Aksimentiev, Soft Matter, 2010, 6, 243 DOI: 10.1039/B917973A

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