Effects of Metal Ions on Conductivity and Structure of Single DNA Molecule in Different Environmental Conditions

• Main Authors: Dong Ruixin, Yan Xunling, Li Ke, Ban Ge, Wang Minghong, Cui Shouxin, Yang Bing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SpringerOpen 2010-01-01
• Series: Nanoscale Research Letters
• Subjects: DNA; Metal ions; Nano-gap electrode; Conductivity; Structure
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11671-010-9657-3

<p>Abstract</p> <p>We design a novel nano-gap electrode to measure the current of DNA molecule, by which the current&#8211;voltage characteristics of individual native DNA, Ag-DNA and Ni-DNA molecules are obtained, respectively. The results show that the voltage gap of Ag- and Ni-DNA is higher than that of native DNA, and the conductance is lower than native DNA in neutral environment. The structure transition from B- to Z-DNA is observed in the presence of high concentrations of nickel ions and Ag-DNA appears chaos state by STM image and U-V spectra characterization. But in alkaline environment, the conductance of Ni-DNA rises and the voltage gap decreases with the increasing of nickel ion concentration denotes that the conductive ability of Ni-DNA is higher than that of native DNA.</p>