Efficient Fusion of Liposomes by Nucleobase Quadruple-Anchored DNA

Vesicle Fusion Mediated by Solanesol-Anchored DNA.

Fusion between two lipid bilayers is one of the central processes in cell biology, playing a key role in endocytosis, exocytosis, and vesicle transport. We have previously developed a model system that uses the hybridization of complementary DNA strands to model the formation of the SNARE four-helix bundle that mediates synaptic vesicle fusion and used it to study vesicle fusion to a tethered l...

Individual vesicle fusion events mediated by lipid-anchored DNA.

Membrane fusion consists of a complex rearrangement of lipids and proteins that results in the merger of two lipid bilayers. We have developed a model system that employs synthetic DNA-lipid conjugates as a surrogate for the membrane proteins involved in the biological fusion reaction. We previously showed that complementary DNA-lipids, inserted into small unilamellar vesicles, can mediate memb...

Effects of linker sequences on vesicle fusion mediated by lipid-anchored DNA oligonucleotides.

Synthetic lipid-oligonucleotide conjugates inserted into lipid vesicles mediate fusion when one population of vesicles displays the 5'-coupled conjugate and the other the 3'-coupled conjugate, so that anti-parallel hybridization allows the membrane surfaces to come into close proximity. Improved assays show that lipid mixing proceeds more quickly and to a much greater extent than content mixing...

Asymmetric Recognition of Nucleobase Features by DNA Polymerases

Silicene-based DNA Nucleobase Sensing

We propose a DNA sequencing scheme based on silicene nanopores. Using first principles theory, we compute the electrical properties of such pores in the absence and presence of nucleobases. Within a two-terminal geometry, we analyze the current-voltage relation in the presence of nucleobases with various orientations. We demonstrate that when nucleobases pass through a pore, even after sampling...