Abstract
We report on a synchrotron x-ray diffraction study of saturated cationic lipid complexed with DNA. In the lipid gel phase the complexes exhibit Bragg reflections due to lamellar lipid bilayer stacking and three nonintegral peaks in agreement with an intercalated centered rectangular columnar superlattice of DNA. The diffuse broadening of the DNA peaks is caused by in-plane translational disorder of the DNA strands and is approximated by Lorentzians with positional correlation lengths of out of plane and in plane. We interpret our results in terms of a system of interacting two-dimensional smectic layers.
- Received 15 May 1998
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.5015
©1998 American Physical Society