A Novel DNA‐Enrichment Technology Based on Amino‐Modified Functionalized Silica Nanoparticles

Abstract In this paper we report a novel DNA‐enrichment technology based on amino‐modified functionalized silica nanoparticles. The approach takes advantage of the amino‐modified silica nanoparticles that have been prepared in one step by the controlled synchronous hydrolysis of tetraethoxysilane and N‐(β‐amimoethyl)‐γ‐aminopropyltriethoxysilane in water nanodroplets of water‐in‐oil microemulsions. The functionalized silica nanoparticles display a positive surface charge at neutral pH due to the presence of amino groups on the surface of these nanoparticles. DNA‐enrichment has been realized in the form of nanoparticle–DNA complexes that is accomplished through electrostatic binding between the positive charge of the amino group and the negative charge of the phosphate groups of the nucleic acid. These nanoparticles have high affinity to bind DNA. The results show that 1 mg of nanoparticles can bind 97.2 µg of plasmid DNA with 4.3 kb. This novel DNA‐enrichment technology has been used successfully in gene delivery. Keywords: DNA‐enrichment technologyAmino‐modifiedSilica nanoparticlesGene delivery Acknowledgments This work was supported by the Pre‐Key Project of Basic Research of the Sci. and Tec. Ministry of China (2001‐51), Key Project of Natural Science Foundation of P.R. China (20135010), Key Project Foundation of China Education Ministry (2000‐156), Oversea Youth Scholar Co‐research Foundation of P.R. China (20028506), and National Key Basic Research Program (2002CB513100).