Perceptions and Misconceptions in Molecular Recognition: Key Factors in Self-Assembling Multivalent (SAMul) Ligands/Polyanions Selectivity

Abstract

Biology is dominated by polyanions (cell membranes, nucleic acids, and polysaccharides just to name a few), and achieving selective recognition between biological polyanions and synthetic systems currently constitutes a major challenge in many biomedical applications, nanovectors-assisted gene delivery being a prime example. This review work summarizes some of our recent efforts in this field; in particular, by using a combined experimental/computation approach, we investigated in detail some critical aspects in self-assembled nanomicelles and two major polyanions—DNA and heparin.

Keywords

• self-assembly
• multivalency
• amphiphilic ligands
• dna
• heparin
• polyanion binding
• isothermal titration calorimetry
• molecular simulations
• chirality