DNA electrophoresis in tri-block copolymer gels---experiments and Brownian dynamics simulation

The mobility of double-stranded DNA ladders in Pluronics\textregistered P105, P123 and F127, was measured by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Pluronics\textregistered are triblock copolymers which form gel-like phases of micelles arranged with cubic order at room temperature. A 10 base pair and a 25 base pair DNA ladder were used as samples in gel electrophoresis. The monotonically decreasing mobility with increasing length observed in the agarose separations is not observed in separations in Pluronics\textregistered . Rather, a complicated dependence of mobility on DNA length is observed, where mobility vs. length increases for short DNA molecules then decreases for longer molecules. There is also a variation of mobility with length correlated to the micelle diameter. Brownian dynamics simulations of a discrete wormlike chain model were performed to simulate short DNA molecules migrating in free solution and in a face-centered cubic matrix. By incorporating hydrodynamic interactions, the trend of simulated length-dependent mobility qualitatively agrees with experimental measurements.