The circular dichroism properties of calf thymus DNA have been examined at 27 degrees over the wavelength range of 215-300 nm in aqueous solutions of NaCl, KCl, LiCl, CsCl, and NH4Cl at pH 7. The concentrations of these electrolytes were varied from 0.01 to ca. 5-10 m. The spectral changes induced by changes in concentration of NaCl and KCl and all but the highest concentrations of NH4Cl as well as lower concentrations of Cstcl and LiCl could be represented by a common two-state transition involving the conversion of the typical conservative spectrum commonly seen in dilute solutions of these salts to a nonconservative spectrum similar to that obtained by Tunis-Schneider and Maestre ((1970), J. Mol. Biol. 52, 521) for the C form of DNA. At higher concentrations of CsCl, LiCl, and NH4Cl, an additional component, resembling an A type spectrum, was required to account for the observed CD changes with changing concentration of electrolyte. Relying on the published spectra of the B, the C, and the A forms of DNA by Tunis-Schneider and Maestre for identification and approximate values of the molecular ellipticities of these forms, we have analyzed these spectral transitions by two least mean squares methods in order to obtain accurate reference spectra of aqueous "B", C, and "A" conformations of calf thymus DNA. The results obtained suggest that although the C form in solution is identical with that obtained in film, the aqueous B conformational limit is not identical with the crystallographic Watson-Crick structure. In addition, the A form generated in solution under our experimental conditions appears to be more similar to that assumed by low molecular weight Escherichia coli DNA at 75% relative humidity rather than calf thymus DNA at the same relative humidity.

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Herein, aptamer-based quantum-dot detectors of K + made of two-different K + aptamers are compared. These deoxyribonucleic acid-based aptamers are TBA (5 GGT TGG TGT GGT TGG 3 ) and AG3 (5 GGG TTA GGG TTA GGG TTA GGG 3 ). The nanoscale aptamer-quantum-dot-based detectors described in this paper are synthesized and tested in DI water aliquots that contain KCl. The results including data suggest that beacons made of AG3 and TBA serve better as an ion indicator in different potassium level regions. As a result, aptamer beacon made of AG3 has better potential in the design of take-home diagnostic devices for hyperkalemia and hypokalemia.Index Terms-Aptamer, deoxyribonucleic acid, molecular beacon, nanotechnology, potassium ion, quantum dot, tetraplex, thrombin-binding aptamer.

Herein, we investigate the migration distance of quantum-dot-functionalized complexes in electrophoresis. The quantitative study of these moving particles in an electrophoretic environment is modeled using an extended Smoluchowski equation. An extended Smoluchowski equation is proposed to addressed the D(m) to Ln(N) plot slope variation issue present in previous work and agreement between experiment and theory is found. The procedures underlying this work then discusses the potential of using agarose electrophoresis as a mean of monitoring the composition of nano-complexes consisting of quantum dots functionalized with differing numbers of DNA molecules.