Recognition and selective binding of DNA by ionenes of different charge density

The ability of aliphatic ionenes to recognize and bind DNA or poly(methacrylic acid) (PMA) in the equimolar mixture of these polyanions was studied by fluorescence quenching technique. Within a particular system, the selectivity of competitive interactions was shown to be determined by a component with the lowest degree of polymerization (DP). Ionene polycations with lowest DP values did not exhibit pronounced selectivity in binding DNA or PMA with higher values of DP. Increase in ionene DP resulted in a steady increase in selectivity of interaction and ultimately in almost exclusive binding of one of the two polyanions. The ability of the ionene to recognize and bind DNA in the mixture of polyanions was shown not to correlate with the affinity of the ionene to DNA in their binary mixture. Although ionenes with a higher charge density exhibited preferential binding to PMA, the ionenes with the lowest charge density selectively bound DNA.