Size-selective separation of DNA fragments by using lysine-functionalized silica particles

In this work, a facile and efficient approach has been demonstrated for size-selective separation of DNA fragments by using lysine-functionalized silica particles. At a given pH, the environmental ionic strength can be utilized to alter the electrostatic interactions of lysine-functionalized silica particles with DNA fragments and in turn the DNA fragments on the silica particle surfaces, which exhibits a clear dependence on the DNA fragment sizes. By carefully adjusting the environmental pH and salt concentration, therefore, the use of the lysine-functionalized silica particles allows effective separation of binary and ternary DNA mixtures, for example, two different DNA fragments with sizes of 101 and 1073 bp, 101 and 745 bp, 101 and 408 bp, respectively, and three different DNA fragments with sizes of 101, 408 and 1073 bp.