Abstract
We report a synchrotron x-ray scattering study of linear DNA chains and cationic liposome mixtures which spontaneously self-assemble into a coupled two-dimensional (2D) smectic phase of DNA chains imbedded between lipid bilayers of a 3D smectic phase. The DNA peak is quantitatively described by anisotropic exponentially decaying chain-chain correlations. The measured interchain compressibility modulus as a function of the interhelical spacing of the 2D smectic, with , is not described by hard core repulsions but, rather, is dominated at larger spacings by long-range electrostatic repulsions.
- Received 18 March 1997
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.79.2582
©1997 American Physical Society