Melting of highly oriented fiber DNA subjected to osmotic pressure.

A pilot study of the possibility to investigate temperature-dependent neutron scattering from fiber-DNA in solution is presented. The study aims to establish the feasibility of experiments to probe the influence of spatial confinement on the structural correlation and the formation of denatured bubbles in DNA during the melting transition. Calorimetry and neutron scattering experiments on fiber samples immersed in solutions of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) prove that the melting transition occurs in these samples, that the transition is reversible to some degree, and that the transition is broader in temperature than for humidified fiber samples. The PEG solutions apply an osmotic pressure that maintains the fiber orientation, establishing the feasibility of future scattering experiments to study the melting transition in these samples.