Chemical Physics Letters, Vol.707, 154-159, 2018
Anomalous behavior of the DNA liquid-crystalline dispersion particles and their phases
The dispersions were obtained as a result of phase exclusion of the DNA molecules from aqueous-salt-PEG-containing solutions. The CD spectra have shown cholesteric and hexagonal packing of the DNA in single dispersion particles at room temperature. The phase transition of the hexagonal -> the "re-entrant" cholesteric packing of DNA takes place at elevated temperature. The texture of the "re-entrant" phase does not demonstrate attributes of DNA cholesteric phase. Alternative reasons of such discrepancy are discussed in the presented Letter. (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.
Keywords:ds DNA;Liquid-crystalline dispersions of DNA;Circular dichroism spectra;Liquid-crystalline phases of DNA;Optical textures;Hexagonal and cholesteric packing of DNA;Phase transitions