Enzymatic Clipping of DNA Wires Coated with Magnetic Nanoparticles

Abstract

The study describes how DNA coated with magnetic nanoparticles remains biologically active and accessible to the BamH1 restriction enzyme. Long DNA molecules are coated with magnetic nanoparticles using electrostatic interactions. The coated, stretched, and surface-bound DNA is incubated in the restriction enzyme that specifically recognizes any strand containing the GGATCC base sequence and clips the DNA. We show that, despite the presence of the nanoparticles on the DNA, the enzyme is still able to recognize the cleavage site and effectively digest the assembly.