ELECTROSTATIC CONTRIBUTIONS TO DNA/MEMBRANE INTERACTIONS

University Of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara CA

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Abstract

We propose to study, theoretically, the contribution of electrostatics to DNA-membrane interactions. The motivation for this work comes from a large experimental effort focused on developing improved, nonviral vectors for gene therapy, by forming cationic liposome-DNA complexes. Experiments indicate that electrostatics determine the complexes' structures and thereby the routes into the nucleus. We plan to study the electrostatic interactions in these systems and specifically address: 1) their relevance to the self-assembled structures; 2) the residual fields which govern the entry into the cell and nucleus; 3) the interplay with membrane and DNA curvature elasticity.