Structural DNA Nanotechnology: Liquid-Crystalline Approach

The investigation of DNA-based materials attracts attention of scientists from various laboratories because this is definitely an emerging area in physics, molecular biology, biotechnology, biosensorics, nanobiotechnology as well as in material science. This chapter compares two different approaches in the structural DNA nanotechnology, i.e. ???hybridization??? and ???liquid-crystalline??? approaches. The chapter reviews the state-of-the art in the fundamental studies of liquid-crystalline forms of double-stranded DNA molecules generated as a result of their phase exclusion from polymer-containing water-salt solutions. The results presented in this chapter demonstrate how the fundamental data obtained when studying the physicochemical properties of doublestranded DNA liquid-crystalline dispersions can be used as a background for induction of a ???liquid??? ??? ???rigid??? state transition, i.e. for the design of novel types of ???rigid??? DNA nano-constructions carrying various ???guest??? molecules, which display unique properties of practical importance.