Synthesis and AFM characterization of poly(dG)-poly(dC)-gold nanoparticle conjugates.

In the present work, we have synthesized conjugates between the 5 nm gold nanoparticles (Au-NP) and 5' thiol-functionalized, 700 bp poly(dG)-poly(dC). We have completely separated and purified to homogeneity conjugates bearing different number of poly(dG)-poly(dC) molecules per Au-NP by electrophoresis and HPLC. The conjugates were directly visualized by atomic force microscopy. We have demonstrated that Au NP-bound poly(dG)-poly(dC) can be considerably extended by Klenow exo(-) polymerase in the presence of dCTP and dGTP.