abstract
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) carries the genetic information essential for the growth and functioning of living organisms, playing a significant role in life sciences research. However, the long-term storage and preservation of DNA, while ensuring its bioactivity, are still current challenges to overcome. In this work, aqueous solutions of ionic liquids (ILs) were investigated as potential preservation media for double stranded (dsDNA). A screening of several ILs, by combining the cholinium, tetrabutylammonium, tetrabutylphosphonium, and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium, cations with the anions bromide, chloride, dihydrogen phosphate, acetate, and glycolate, was carried out in order to gather fundamental knowledge on the molecular features of ILs that improve the dsDNA stability. Different IL concentrations and the pH effect were also addressed. Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy was used to evaluate the conformational structure and stability of dsDNA. IL-DNA interactions were appraised by UV-Vis absorption spectrophotometry and P-31 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The results obtained demonstrate that pH has a significant effect towards the dsDNA stability. Amongst the ILs investigated, cholinium-based ILs are the most promising class of ILs to preserve the dsDNA structure, in which electrostatic interactions between the cholinium cation and the DNA phosphate groups play a significant role as demonstrated by the P-31 NMR data, being more relevant at higher IL concentrations. On the other hand, the denaturation of dsDNA mainly occurs with ILs composed of more hydrophobic cations and able to establish dispersive interactions with the nucleobases environment. Furthermore, the IL anion has a weaker impact when compared to the IL cation effect to interact with DNA molecules. The experimental data of this work provide relevant fundamental knowledge for the application of ILs in the preservation of nucleic acids, being of high relevance in the biotechnology field.
keywords
CHEMICAL-STABILITY; CIRCULAR-DICHROISM; BINDING; MECHANISM; SOLVENTS; ACIDS
subject category
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology; Science & Technology - Other Topics
authors
Dinis, TBV; Sousa, F; Freire, MG
our authors
Mara Guadalupe Freire Martins
Research Coordinator
Teresa B. V. Dinis
PhD StudentProjects
Ionic liquid-based supports for pre-miRNAs purification targeting Alzheimer's disease (PUREmiRSILs)
acknowledgements
This work was developed within the scope of the project CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials, UIDB/50011/2020 and UIDP/50011/2020, financed by national funds through the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology/MCTES. TD acknowledges the Ph.D. grant SFRH/BD/130958/2017. FS acknowledges the CICS-UBI project UIDB/00709/2020 and the project PTDC/BII-BBF/29496/2017 (PUREmiRSILs) funded by FEDER, through COMPETE2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacao (POCI), and by national funds (OE), through FCT/MCTES. The authors acknowledge the financial support from the European Union Framework Programme for Research and Innovation HORIZON 2020, under the TEAMING Grant Agreement No. 739572 - The Discoveries CTR.