Teresa E. Strzelecka

TL;DR: It is found that DNA forms at least three distinct liquid crystalline phases at concentrations comparable to those in vivo, with phase transitions occurring over relatively narrow ranges of DNA concentration.

TL;DR: In this article, the phase transition boundaries for DNA fragments with a contour length approximating the persistence length were determined as functions of DNA concentration from 10 to 300 mg/ml solvent, supporting electrolyte concentration from 0.01 to 1.0 M, and temperature from 20°C to 60°C.

TL;DR: Transitions between isotropic and liquid crystalline phases of concentrated solutions of DNA with an average contour length near the persistence length were examined and the critical concentration for anisotropic phase formation and the nature of the phases formed by these DNA molecules are not strongly affected by decreasing the supporting electrolyte concentration.

TL;DR: A nonlinear increase in R1 with DNA concentration was observed upon onset of anisotropic phase formation, indicating an increase in the product of the fraction of bond ions times their relaxation rate (r·R1,b), in agreement with similar nmr studies conducted at low DNA concentrations.