Issue 23, 2013
From the journal:

RSC Advances

Natural or synthetic nucleic acids encapsulated in a closed cavity of amphiphiles†

Mauro Giustini,*a   Anna Maria Giulianib  and  Giuseppe Gennarob  

* Corresponding authors

a Dipartimento di Chimica, Università “La Sapienza”, Piazzale A. Moro 5, 00185, Roma, Italy
E-mail: mauro.giustini@uniroma1.it
Fax: +3906490324
Tel: +390649913336

b Dipartimento STEMBIO, Università di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Parco d′Orleans, Pad. 17, 90128, Palermo, Italy

Abstract

In this review some aspects of the interactions of organized structures of amphiphiles with natural or synthetic DNAs are briefly considered. In particular DNAs encapsulated in closed cavities of amphiphiles, specifically giant vesicles and water-in-oil droplets and reverse micelles, are dealt with. Two main applications of giant vesicles are reviewed in detail, namely their use as microreactors where reactions can be followed by optical microscopy on a single vesicle and in synthetic biology as protocell models or as potential semi-synthetic “living” cells. Water-in-oil droplets uses for rapid and relatively low-cost DNA amplification by PCR reaction are described as well as for in vitro transcription and translation. A large variety of non-Watson–Crick conformations of polynucleotides observed in the aqueous inner core of reverse micelles is illustrated and compared with those observed in matched water solutions.

Graphical abstract: Natural or synthetic nucleic acids encapsulated in a closed cavity of amphiphiles

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3RA23208E
Article type
Review Article
Submitted
06 Dec 2012
Accepted
15 Feb 2013
First published
19 Feb 2013

RSC Adv., 2013,3, 8618-8632

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Natural or synthetic nucleic acids encapsulated in a closed cavity of amphiphiles

M. Giustini, A. M. Giuliani and G. Gennaro, RSC Adv., 2013, 3, 8618 DOI: 10.1039/C3RA23208E

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