EPR Spectroscopy as an Efficient Tool for Investigations of Polyelectrolyte Multilayer Growth and Local Chain Dynamics.

The strong polycation poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC) and the weak polyanion poly(ethylene-alt-maleic acid) (P(E-alt-MA)) were used to build polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs) up to 31 layers. A spin-label (SL) was covalently attached to the polyanion for studying the rotational dynamics of the polyacid backbone in a swollen state of the PEMs using continuous-wave (CW) electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. In the first step, the spin-labeled poly(ethylene-alt-maleic acid) (SL-P(E-alt-MA)) was used in every polyanion layer to monitor the PEMs growth by analyzing the integrated intensity of the spectra. The buildup was found to be pH-dependent resulting in PEM with different thicknesses. In the second step, SL-P(E-alt-MA) was selectively placed in a single polyanion layer to study the rotational dynamics of the polyacid backbone. The rotational diffusion coefficient of the polyacid backbone RS and the internal rotational diffusion coefficient of the SL attached to the polymer backbone RI were found to be higher at pH 5 than at pH 4, which is related to enhanced mobility.

DNAzymes as Catalysts for l-Tyrosine and Amyloid ß Oxidation.

Single-stranded deoxyribonucleic acids have an enormous potential for catalysis by applying tailored sequences of nucleotides for individual reaction conditions and substrates. If such a sequence is guanine-rich, it may arrange into a three-dimensional structure called G-quadruplex and give rise to a catalytically active DNA molecule, a DNAzyme, upon addition of hemin. Here, we present a DNAzyme-mediated reaction, which is the oxidation of l-tyrosine toward dityrosine by hydrogen peroxide. With an optimal stoichiometry between DNA and hemin of 1:10, we report an activity of 101.2 ± 3.5 µUnits (µU) of the artificial DNAzyme Dz-00 compared to 33.0 ± 1.8 µU of free hemin. Exemplarily, DNAzymes may take part in neurodegeneration caused by amyloid beta (Aß) aggregation due to l-tyrosine oxidation. We show that the natural, human genome-derived DNAzyme In1-sp is able to oxidize Aß peptides with a 4.6% higher yield and a 33.3% higher velocity of the reaction compared to free hemin. As the artificial DNAzyme Dz-00 is even able to catalyze Aß peptide oxidation with a 64.2% higher yield and 337.1% higher velocity, an in-depth screening of human genome-derived DNAzymes may identify further candidates with similarly high catalytic activity in Aß peptide oxidation.