Smectic phase in suspensions of gapped DNA duplexes

Salamończyk, Mirosław; Zhang, Jing; Portale, Giuseppe; Zhu, Chenhui; Kentzinger, Emmanuel; Gleeson, J. T.; Jákli, Antal; Michele, Cristiano De; Dhont, Jan K. G.; Sprunt, Samuel; Stiakakis, Emmanuel

doi:10.1038/ncomms13358

Cited by 42 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…From these results, we find that the isotropic phase may also be further destabilized with increasing attraction strength between the tips. A similar transition between an isotropic and a smectic-A phase with additional double periodicity was found in simulations of hinged rods for a model of gapped DNA complexes [32]. These authors dubbed this phase the Sm-fA, where the f stands for folded because the rods are folded at the hinge, creating this additional double periodicity of the position of the hinges in the structure.…”

Section: B Higher Attraction Strengthssupporting

confidence: 57%

Self-organization of tip-functionalized elongated colloidal particles

Menegon

Kusters²,

Schoot

2019

Phys. Rev. E

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Weakly attractive interactions between the tips of rodlike colloidal particles affect their liquid-crystal phase behavior due to a subtle interplay between enthalpy and entropy. Here we employ molecular dynamics simulations on semiflexible, repulsive bead-spring chains where one of the two end beads attract each other. We calculate the phase diagram as a function of both the volume fraction of the chains and the strength of the attractive potential. We identify a large number of phases that include isotropic, nematic, smectic-A, smectic-B, and crystalline states. For tip attraction energies lower than the thermal energy, our results are qualitatively consistent with experimental findings: We find that an increase of the attraction strength shifts the nematic to smectic-A phase transition to lower volume fractions, with only minor effect on the stability of the other phases. For sufficiently strong tip attraction, the nematic phase disappears completely, in addition leading to the destabilization of the isotropic phase. In order to better understand the underlying physics of these phenomena, we also investigate the clustering of the particles at their attractive tips and the effective molecular field experienced by the particles in the smectic-A phase. Based on these results, we argue that the clustering of the tips only affects the phase stability if lamellar structures ("micelles") are formed. We find that an increase of the attraction strength increases the degree of order in the layered phases. Interestingly, we also find evidence for the existence of an antiferroelectric smectic-A phase transition induced by the interaction between the tips. A simple Maier-Saupe-McMillan model confirms our findings.

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Section: B Higher Attraction Strengthssupporting

confidence: 57%

Self-organization of tip-functionalized elongated colloidal particles

Menegon

Kusters²,

Schoot

2019

Phys. Rev. E

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“…An interesting lyotropic LC class is realized by the self-assembly of short DNA oligomers [ 40 , 41 ]. It would be also interesting to design a lyotropic LC composed of aptamers and compare the changes in LC textures after introducing antigens that bind to these molecules, with any changes when adding antigens that do not.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermotropic Liquid Crystal-Assisted Chemical and Biological Sensors

et al. 2017

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In this review article, we analyze recent progress in the application of liquid crystal-assisted advanced functional materials for sensing biological and chemical analytes. Multiple research groups demonstrate substantial interest in liquid crystal (LC) sensing platforms, generating an increasing number of scientific articles. We review trends in implementing LC sensing techniques and identify common problems related to the stability and reliability of the sensing materials as well as to experimental set-ups. Finally, we suggest possible means of bridging scientific findings to viable and attractive LC sensor platforms.

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“…Lyotropic liquid crystals (LLCs) of DNA obtained by supramolecular self‐assembly have attracted considerable attention as these condensed DNA mesophases have broad biological and biotechnological significance in an aqueous environment . A variety of LLC structures ranging from nematic phases, over smectic and hexagonal states to cubic phases based on pristine DNA and DNA‐surfactant complexes have been obtained by tuning DNA concentration, molecular weight, and surfactant type. These seminal findings enabled the development of powerful tools for drug delivery and gene therapy applications .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nematic DNA Thermotropic Liquid Crystals with Photoresponsive Mechanical Properties

Zhang

Maity

Liu

et al. 2017

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Over the last decades, water-based lyotropic liquid crystals of nucleic acids have been extensively investigated because of their important role in biology. Alongside, solvent-free thermotropic liquid crystals (TLCs) from DNA are gaining great interest, owing to their relevance to DNA-inspired optoelectronic applications. Up to now, however, only the smectic phase of DNA TLCs has been reported. The development of new mesophases including nematic, hexagonal, and cubic structures for DNA TLCs remains a significant challenge, which thus limits their technological applications considerably. In this work, a new type of DNA TLC that is formed by electrostatic complexation of anionic oligonucleotides and cationic surfactants containing an azobenzene (AZO) moiety is demonstrated. DNA-AZO complexes form a stable nematic mesophase over a temperature range from -7 to 110 °C and retain double-stranded DNA structure at ambient temperature. Photoisomerization of the AZO moieties from the E- to the Z-form alters the stiffness of the DNA-AZO hybrid materials opening a pathway toward the development of DNA TLCs as stimuli-responsive biomaterials.

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Smectic phase in suspensions of gapped DNA duplexes

Cited by 42 publications

References 61 publications

Self-organization of tip-functionalized elongated colloidal particles

Self-organization of tip-functionalized elongated colloidal particles

Thermotropic Liquid Crystal-Assisted Chemical and Biological Sensors

Nematic DNA Thermotropic Liquid Crystals with Photoresponsive Mechanical Properties

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