Crowding by anionic nanoparticles causes DNA double-strand instability and compaction.

Up to the present, DNA structural transitions caused by cationic polymers as well as in concentrated solutions of neutral polymers are well documented, while a little is known about DNA interaction with like-charge species. Herein, changes in the structure of DNA induced by anionic nanoparticles of different sizes (20-130 nm) were investigated by combining single-molecule DNA fluorescent microscopy, to monitor the conformational dynamics of long-chain DNA, with spectroscopic methods, to gain insight into changes in the secondary structure of DNA. The results showed that several percent of negatively charged silica nanoparticles induced DNA compaction from a coil to a globule, and this change was accompanied by a decrease in the melting temperature of the DNA double helix. DNA was compacted into toroidal condensates with reduced diameters of about 20-30 nm. Smaller 20 nm nanoparticles triggered a DNA coil-globule transition at lower concentrations, but the exclusion volume for each type of nanoparticle at the point of complete DNA collapse, as estimated by taking into account the depth of the ionic atmosphere, was found to be almost the same.