Raman on suspended DNA: Novel super-hydrophobic approach for structural studies

•Non-destructive Raman spectroscopy technique coupled with super-hydrophobic devices for biological fibers investigation•Super-hydrophobic surfaces comprising micro-pillars for DNA localization•Discrimination between A- and B-form of dsDNA suspended between micro-pillars by means of Raman analysis.•Electron Microscopy preliminary investigation of suspended dsDNA molecules

The A- and B-form are two of the most common structural conformations of double strand DNA present in nature and they can interchange on the basis of the helices hydration [1,2]. Herein we demonstrate that the use of non-destructive techniques such as Raman spectroscopy coupled with the use of a super-hydrophobic device, allows the clear identification of the DNA hydration state, of the backbone (phosphate + deoxyribose sugar) conformation and of the nucleotides. There is a wide prospect for an increase of knowledge in biomolecules using this combined approach resulting in a significant impact in the study of more complex supramolecular assemblies and of fine chemical variation along the genomic loci undergoing to epigenetic variations.

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