A simple DNA-redox cation interaction enhancement strategy has been developed to improve the sensitivity of electrochemical immunosensors for protein detection. Instead of labeling with fluorophores or redox-active groups, the detection antibodies we...
Recognition of unusual left-handed Z-DNA by specific binding of small molecules is crucial for understanding biological functions in which this particular structure participates. Recent investigations indicate that zinc cationic porphyrin (ZnTMPyP4)...
Cationic azobenzene-containing surfactants are capable of condensing DNA in solution with formation of nanosized particles that can be employed in gene delivery. The ratio of surfactant/DNA concentration and solution ionic strength determines the res...
The development of very efficient and safe non-viral vectors, constituted mainly by cationic lipids bearing multiple charges, is a landmark for in vivo gene-based medicine. To understand the effect of the hydrophobic chain’s length, we here rep...
The pandemic emergency determined by the spreading worldwide of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has focused the scientific and economic efforts of the pharmaceutical industry and governments on the possibility to fight the virus by genetic immunization. The gen...
Two independent, complementary methods of structural analysis were used to elucidate the effect of divalent magnesium and iron cations on the structure of the protective Dps-DNA complex. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and cryo-electron microscop...
DNA folding is a core phenomenon in genome packaging within a nucleus. Such a phenomenon is induced by polyelectrolyte complexation between anionic DNA and cationic proteins of histones. In this regard, complexes formed between DNA and cationic polye...
Cationic porphyrins interact strongly with guanine quadruplex (G-quadruplex) DNA. We report the preparation of the zinc(II) complex of a porphyrin bearing cationic side arms, zinc(II)-5,10,15,20-tetrakis(α-pyridino-m-tolyl)porphyrin tetrabromide (Znm...
It is well known that common trivalent counter ions can induce DNA compaction or condensation but are unable to invert DNA surface charge in a normal aqueous solution. In the present study, we found that trivalent-hydrolysed metal ions (Fe3+, Al3+) a...
Cationic porphyrins interact strongly with guanine quadruplex DNA (G-quadruplex). We herein report the preparation of a cationic porphyrin bearing quinolinium side arms, 1,1’,1’’,1’’’-[porphyrin-5,10,15,20-tetrayltetrakis(3,1-phenylenemethylene)]tet...
The effects of magnesium and sodium on the interactions between aptamer, its specific ligand, and short complementary oligonucleotides (cDNAs) differing in affinity of their binding with the aptamer were studied. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and AFB1-binding...
Developing new functional biomaterials from biocompatible natural-based resources for gene/drug delivery has attracted increasing attention in recent years. In this work, we prepared a series of cationic nanoparticles (Diosarg-DOPE NPs) by assembly o...
Four novel peptidoids, derived from the Phe-Arg-His (FRH) peptide motif, were prepared by replacing the histidine heterocycle with triazole and consequent triazole-fluorophore (coumarin) extension and also replacing arginine with less voluminous lysi...
Antimicrobial resistance reduces the efficacy of antibiotics. Infections caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR), Gram-negative bacterial strains, such as Klebsiella pneumoniae (MDRKp) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MDRPa), are a serious threat to global he...
Micro- and nanogels are being increasingly used to encapsulate bioactive compounds. Their soft structure allows large loading capacity while their stimuli responsiveness makes them extremely versatile. In this work, the complexation of DNA with therm...
Cationic surfactants interact with DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid), forming surfactant-DNA complexes that offer particularly efficient control for encapsulation and release of DNA from DNA gel particles. In the present work, DNA-based particles were prep...
With the recent development of accurate protein structure prediction tools, virtually all protein sequences now have an experimental or a modeled structure. It has therefore become essential to develop fast algorithms capable of detecting non-covalen...
The interaction of 4′-(N,N-dimethylamino)-6-hydroxyflavylium cation with double stranded (ds-) DNA/RNA was studied by UV/Vis spectrophotometry, circular dichroism (CD), and also steady-state and time-resolved emission spectroscopies at neutral...
DNA-templated self-assembly is an emerging strategy for generating functional supramolecular systems, which requires the identification of potent multi-point binding ligands. In this line, we recently showed that bis-functionalized guanidinium compo...
A series of novel guanidino-aryl (GA) compounds containing phenanthrene, fluoranthene, fluorene, and naphthalene aromatic cores were synthesized to investigate their interactions with DNA, RNA, and G-quadruplex structures. Among the novel compounds,...
We developed a new method for detecting S1 nuclease and hydroxyl radicals based on the use of water-soluble conjugated poly[9,9-bis(6,6-(N,N,N-trimethylammonium)-fluorene)-2,7-ylenevinylene-co-alt-2,5-dicyano-1,4-phenylene)] (PFVCN) and tungsten disu...
This work aimed to evaluate in vitro DNA binding mechanistically of cationic nitrosyl ruthenium complex [RuNOTSP]+ and its ligand (TSPH2) in detail, correlate the findings with cleavage activity, and draw conclusions about the impact of the metal cen...
Cationic lipids have been used in the development of non-viral gene delivery systems as lipoplexes. Stearylamine, a cationic lipid that presents a primary amine group when in solution, is able to compact genetic material by electrostatic interactions...
By using all atom molecular dynamics simulations, we studied the behavior of human DNA telomere sequences in guanine quadruplex (G4) conformation and in the presence of oxidative lesions, namely abasic sites. In particular, we evidenced that while re...
The interactions of DNA with lysozyme in the surface layer were studied by performing infrared reflection–absorption spectroscopy (IRRAS), ellipsometry, surface tensiometry, surface dilational rheology, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). A conc...
The wide use of mono- or bis-styryl fluorophores in biomedical applications prompted the presented design and study of a series of trimeric and tetrameric homo-analogues, styryl moieties arranged around a central aromatic core. The interactions with...
DNA nanostructures, owing to their controllable and adaptable nature, have been considered as highly attractive nanoplatforms for biomedical applications in recent years. However, their use in the biological environment has been restricted by low cel...
The HIV-1 nucleocapsid protein (NC) is a multifunctional viral protein necessary for HIV-1 replication. Recent studies have demonstrated that reverse transcription (RT) completes in the intact viral capsid, and the timing of RT and uncoating are corr...
The 2- and 2,7- substituted para-N-methylpyridinium pyrene cations show high-affinity intercalation into ds-DNAs, whereas their non-methylated analogues interacted with ds-DNA/RNA only in the protonated form (at pH 5), but not at physiological condit...
In this review, we focus on the one-electron oxidation of DNA, which is a multipart event controlled by several competing factors. We will discuss the oxidation free energies of the four nucleobases and the electron detachment from DNA, influenced by...
Herein, the presented results show that previously studied DNA/RNA-interacting bis-imidazole-calix[4]arene systems can, in aqueous solutions, efficiently bind a series of biorelevant transition metal cations by coordination with the two imidazole arm...
Interaction between cationic surfactants and nucleic acids attracts much attention due to the possibility of using such systems for gene delivery. Herein, the lipoplexes based on cationic surfactants with imidazolium head group bearing methoxyphenyl...
We present the creation of an alignment layer for liquid crystal molecules based on DNA from fish waste and a selected cationic surfactant. The implemented biodegradable DNA-based surface offers excellent optical and physical properties, cost-effecti...
Y-box-binding protein 1 (YB-1) is a multifunctional positively charged protein that interacts with DNA or RNA and poly(ADP-ribose) (PAR). YB-1 is poly(ADP-ribosyl)ated and stimulates poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1) activity. Here, we studied th...
Fluorescence imaging is constantly searching for new far-red emitting probes whose turn-on response is selective upon the interaction with specific biological targets. Cationic push-pull dyes could indeed respond to these requirements due to their in...
In this paper, a fast and simple strategy for sensitive detection of streptavidin (SA) was proposed based on terminal protection of small molecule-linked DNA and cationic conjugated polymer-mediated fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). In p...
Lipid-polymer chimeric (hybrid) nanosystems are promising platforms for the design of effective gene delivery vectors. In this regard, we developed DNA nanocarriers comprised of a novel poly[(stearyl methacrylate-co-oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ethe...
The G4C2 hexanucleotide repeat expansion in the c9orf72 gene is a major genetic cause of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), with the formation of G-quadruplexes directly linked to the developmen...
Understanding interactions between cations and DNA is essential for elucidating the structural dynamics of this fundamental biomolecule. While B-DNA is well known to dominate in long genomic DNA under physiological ionic conditions, its stability in...
The eukaryotic DNA replication fork is a hub of enzymes that continuously act to synthesize DNA, propagate DNA methylation and other epigenetic marks, perform quality control, repair nascent DNA, and package this DNA into chromatin. Many of the enzym...
A main challenge for optical graphene-based biosensors detecting nucleic acid is the selection of key parameters e.g. graphenic chemical structure, nanomaterial dispersion, ionic strength, and appropriate molecular interaction mechanisms. Herein we s...
Nicking endonucleases (NEs) are enzymes that incise only one strand of the duplex to produce a DNA molecule that is ‘nicked’ rather than cleaved in two. Since these precision tools are used in genetic engineering and genome editing, information about...
Cationic gemini surfactants have emerged as potential gene delivery agents as they can co-assemble with DNA due to a strong electrostatic association. Commonly, DNA complexation is enhanced by the inclusion of a helper lipid (HL), which also plays a...
Trichomonas vaginalis, the protozoan responsible for trichomoniasis, encounters fluctuating levels of metal cations in the male urogenital tract, notably zinc (Zn2+) and cadmium (Cd2+), which may induce genotoxic stress. While zinc is a key physiolog...
The interaction of DNA with different block copolymers, namely poly (trimethylammonium chloride methacryloyoxy)ethyl)-block-poly(acrylamide), i.e., (PTEA)-b-(PAm), and poly (trimethylammonium chloride methacryloyoxy)ethyl)-block-poly(ethylene oxide),...
Low cytotoxicity and high gene transfection efficiency are critical issues in designing current non-viral gene delivery vectors. The purpose of the present work was to synthesize the novel biodegradable poly (lactic acid)-poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(L...
A series of tetracationic bis-triarylborane dyes, differing in the aromatic linker connecting two dicationic triarylborane moieties, showed very high submicromolar affinities toward ds-DNA and ds-RNA. The linker strongly influenced the emissive prope...
Herein, we report the synthesis, characterisation, X-ray crystallography, and oxidative DNA binding interactions of the copper artificial metallo-nuclease [Cu(DPQ)2(NO3)](NO3), where DPQ = dipyrido[3,2-f:2′,3′-h]quinoxaline. The cation [C...
In this study, the influence of the terminal phosphorothioate (PT) internucleotide bond in ds-DNA on the oxidation process was taken into consideration. The interaction of UV with the targeted oligonucleotide leads to an electron ejection and radica...
In this study, a sensitive method for detecting DNA methyltransferase (MTase) activity was developed by combining the effective fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) of cationic conjugated polymers and exonuclease (Exo) III–mediated sig...
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