The
Microcontact Printing
with DNA surfactants
C. Xu (postdoc.),
P.D.I. Fletcher and V.N. Paunov
Sponsors: EPSRC
Duration: Oct. 2001 to
Feb. 2005
We are
developing novel surfactants containing a hydrophobic group attached to a
hydrophilic chain of DNA bases. The basic
idea is to use double-strand formation by the DNA chains to attach liquid
surfaces (liposomes, emulsion drops and cells) to both liquid and solid
surfaces. The attachment can be
programmed in a highly specific manner by control of the complementarity of the
DNA base sequences within the surfaces to be attached.
Fig.1.
Scheme of the preparation of DNA micro-array by microcontact printing with
DNA-surfactant ink on solid substrates. (A)
Synthesis of DNA-surfactant. (B) Inking of the PDMS stamp with aqueous solution
of DNA-surfactant. (C) Printing of the pattern on to solid substrate. (D)
Anchoring of the DNA strand by hydrophobic interaction of the surfactant
“hydrophobic tail” with the solid substrate in water.
Fig.2.
The fluorescence micrograph shows a glass surface
patterned using microcontact printing with squares of a DNA surfactant and
treated with a solution of fluorescent tagged complementary DNA chains. The solution DNA chains only bind (by DNA
double-strand formation) to the surface regions containing the bound,
complementary DNA (light areas). Control
experiments with non-complementary DNA sequences show no binding. The scale bar is 100 mm.
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