Biomedical subjects

N Pernodet

Publications and source records attributed to N Pernodet.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

DNA electrophoresis on a flat surface.

We report a new approach for performing DNA electrophoresis. Using experimental studies and molecular dynamics simulations, we show that a perfectly flat silicon wafer, without any surface features, can be used to fractionate DNA in free solution. We determine that the ability of a flat surface to separate DNA molecules results from the local friction between the surface and the adsorbed DNA segments. We control this friction by coating the Si surface with silane monolayer films and show that it is possible to systematically change the size range of DNA that can be separated.

DNA↗

PubMed1998

Band broadening in gel electrophoresis: scaling laws for the dispersion coefficient measured by FRAP.

We determined quantitatively the band broadening effect during gel electrophoresis by measuring the longitudinal dispersion coefficient Dx, with a fluorescence recovery after photobleaching setup, coupled to an electrophoretic cell. We carried out measurements as a function of the electric field, the average pore size, and the molecular length of DNA fragments. Our results are in good agreement with the predictions of the biased reptation model with fluctuations described by T. A. Duke et al. [(1992) Physics Review Letters, vol. 69, pp. 3260-3263]. This agreement is observed on single-stranded DNA [persistence length approximately equal to 4 nm; B. Tinland et al. (1997) Macromolecules, vol. 30, pp. 5763-5765] in polyacrylamide gels and on double-stranded DNA (persistence length approximately equal to 50 nm) in agarose gels, two systems where the ratio between the average pore size and the Kuhn length is larger than 1.

Base Composition↗

PubMed1998

Agarose gel structure using atomic force microscopy: gel concentration and ionic strength effects.

Agarose gels have been studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The experiments were especially designed to work in aqueous conditions, allowing direct observation of the "unperturbed" gel without invasive treatment. AFM images clearly show strong dependence of pore diameter and its distribution on ionic strength of the solvent. As the ionic strength increases, the distribution becomes broader and the position of its maximum shifts toward higher values. The evolution of the distribution curves indicates that gels become more homogeneous with decreasing Tris-borate-EDTA (TBE) buffer concentration. An empirical law of the mean pore diameter as a function of the ionic strength is established. In agreement with our previous work we found that, for a given ionic strength, the pore diameter increases when the agarose concentration decreases and that the wide pore diameter distribution narrows as the gel concentration increases.

Electrophoresis, Agar Gel↗

PubMed1997

Pore size of agarose gels by atomic force microscopy.

The pore size of agarose gel in water at different concentrations was directly measured using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The experiment was specially designed to work under aqueous conditions and allows direct observation of the "unperturbed" gel without invasive treatment. The pore size a as a function of gel concentration C shows a power law dependence a approximately C-gamma, where gamma lies between the prediction of the Ogston model for a random array of straight chains, 0.5, and the value predicted by De Gennes for a network of flexible chains, 0.75. We confirm that gels present a wide pore size distribution and show that it narrows as the concentration increases.

Chemical Phenomena↗

PubMed1996

Field and pore size dependence of the electrophoretic mobility of DNA: a combination of fluorescence recovery after photobleaching and electric birefringence measurements.

By combining an electrophoretic cell with a setup of fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) we can measure the electrophoretic mobility mu of double-stranded lambda DNA in agarose gel as a function of electric field E and gel concentration C. Mobility varies linearly with the field in agreement with the biased reptation model with fluctuations. The slopes are analyzed in term of orientation and compared with birefringence results. The mobility extrapolated at zero field follows the prediction of the reptation theory; we deduced the variation of the pore size with the agarose concentration. With a special use of our setup, we measure directly the free-mobility mu 0 of the DNA.

Bacteriophage lambda↗