Pietrini and Luisi

Nucleic acids can also be solubilized in reverse micelles, including ribosomes and plasmids, (Imre and Luisi, 1982 Palazzo and Luisi, 1992 Pietrini and Luisi, 2002 2004 Ousfuri et al, 2005), which also gives rise to a series of interesting structural and thermodynamic questions. In particular, high-molecular-weight... 

DNA acquires a condensed form in reverse micelles, with the characteristic psi-spectrum (Imre and Luisi, 1982 Pietrini and Luisi, 2004 Ousfuri et al., 2005). This super-condensation of the DNA macromolecules, and their non-covalent cross-linking to yield the psi-spectrum, is due to the restricted environment. 

Figure 9.17 Green fluorescent protein (GFP) synthesis in water-in-oil emulsion as visualized by fluorescence microscopy. (Adapted from Pietrini and Luisi, 2004). Shown are the compartments in which GFP has been expressed (green in the original), (a) Typical micrographs of the cell-free GFP synthesis in Span 80 (0.45% v/v)/Tween 80 (0.05% v/v)/aqueous solution (0.5% v/v) in mineral oil emulsion droplets, preparation at 4 °C incubation at 37°C (i) 0 min, (ii) 11 min, (iii) 23 min, (iv) 32 min, (v) 44 min, (vi) 57 min, (vii) 21 h. Negative control (viii) 0 min, (ix) 21 h. The bar represents 50 p.m. (b) Kinetics of the cell-free GFP synthesis in emulsion droplets, on average 10 droplets with diameters of 30-60 um are evaluated per time point, cell-free enhanced GFP synthesis in emulsion droplets (i, ii and iii are three independent experiments) and negative controi (iv and v are two independent experiments).

Pietrini and Luisi (2004) described the synthesis of GFP from mixing two or more initial reagents, utilizing water in oil emulsions, see Figure 9.17. This system is biologically less interesting, however, compartments can fuse with each other and they exhibit no leakage. 

Pietrini, A. V. and Luisi, P. L. (2002). Circular dichroic properties and average dimensions of DNA-containing reverse micellar aggregates. Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1562, 57-62. 

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