Molecular forces for the binding and condensation of DNA molecules.

Atomic force microscopy has been used to investigate the binding between a double-stranded DNA and bilayers of cationic lipids and zwitterionic lipids in low ionic-strength solutions. The binding of a DNA molecule to freshly cleaved mica surface in solution has also been measured. The binding of DNA molecules to cationic lipid bilayers has a minimal strength of approximately 45 pN. On zwitterionic lipid bilayers and mica surface, the minimal binding strength is approximately twice that value. The binding also has a dynamic nature, with only a certain percentage of recorded force curves containing the binding characteristics. Divalent Mg(2+) ions enhance the binding by increasing that percentage without any effect on the binding strength. We have also observed a long-range attraction between DNA molecules and cationic lipid bilayers with a strength much larger than the minimum force and a range well over 50 nm, possibly related to the driving force responsible for the two-dimensional condensation of DNA.