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Electrically controlled DNA adhesion

Nature Nanotechnology volume 5, pages 154–159 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

The ability to control the interaction of polyelectrolytes, such as DNA or proteins, with charged surfaces is of pivotal importance for a multitude of biotechnological applications. Previously, we measured the desorption forces of single polymers on charged surfaces using an atomic force microscope. Here, we show that the adhesion of DNA on gold electrodes modified with self-assembled monolayers can be biased by the composition of the monolayer and externally controlled by means of the electrode potential. Positive potentials induced DNA adsorption onto OH-terminated electrodes with adhesion forces up to 25 pN (at +0.5 V versus Ag/AgCl), whereas negative potentials suppressed DNA adsorption. The measured contributions of the DNA backbone phosphate charges and the doubly charged terminal phosphate on adsorption agreed with a model based on the Gouy–Chapman theory. Experiments on an NH2-terminated electrode revealed a similar force modulation range of the coulomb component of the desorption force. These findings are important for the development of new DNA-based biochips or supramolecular structures.

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Figure 1: Idealized representation of the single molecule desorption experiments on an OH–SAM electrode.
Figure 2: Polarized SAM electrodes and dsDNA rupture forces.
Figure 3: Rupture force versus potential.
Figure 4: Low-pass-filtered force–extension curves of dsDNA on the OH–SAM at +0.5 V.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank R. Netz, D. Ho, T. Hugel, W. Schuhmann and G. Papastavrou for helpful discussions. This work was supported by the German Science Foundation (SFB 486) and the Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM). A.F. thanks the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for their generous support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chair for Applied Physics and Center for NanoScience, Ludwigs–Maximilians–Universität Munich, Amalienstrasse 54, Munich, 80799, Germany

    Matthias Erdmann, Ann Fornof & Hermann E. Gaub

  2. Munich Center for Integrated Protein Science, Ludwigs–Maximilians–Universität Munich, Butenandstrasse 5-13, Munich, 81377, Germany

    Ralf David

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  1. Matthias Erdmann
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Contributions

M.E., A.F. and H.E.G. conceived and designed the experiments and co-wrote the paper. M.E. performed the experiments and analysed the data. R.D. contributed the dsDNA and provided the tip and electrode functionalization. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hermann E. Gaub.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Erdmann, M., David, R., Fornof, A. et al. Electrically controlled DNA adhesion. Nature Nanotech 5, 154–159 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2009.377

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