Abstract: | The method of electrostriction was applied to supported bilayer lipid membranes (sBLM) and Langmuir monolayers with the aim to study the peculiarities of the interaction of short oligonucleotides with lipid films and of the duplex formation between complementary oligonucleotides. The bilayer lipid membranes (sBLM) were formed on an agar support, whereas Langmuir monolayers were generated on the air-water interface. As an oligonucleotide, the 15-mer 5′-cholesterolphosphoryl-dT15 (CHpdT15) was synthesized. We could show that the interaction of CHpdT15 with sBLM resulted in a considerable increase of the elasticity modulus perpendicular to the membrane plane (E ⊥) and an increase of the surface potential. Interaction of complementary oligodeoxyadenylate (dA15) with sBLM modified by CHpdT15 resulted in a slight increase of the surface potential whereas E ⊥ slightly decreased. CHpdT15 forms monomolecular layers on the air/water interface. Interaction of dA15 with such monolayers resulted in an increase of the surface pressure, probably due to an increase of the surface charge of the monolayer; similar effects were observed for lipid monolayers modified by CHpdT15. Prospects of using such interactions for detecting DNA hybridization are discussed. |