Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Downloads | Help

CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 46: Focus: Charge Effects in Soft and Biological Matter II (jointly with BP)

CPP 46.3: Talk

Thursday, March 25, 2010, 14:45–15:00, H37

On the Question of Universality of Charge Induced Reentrant Condensation of Proteins — •Fajun Zhang¹, Benjamin Heck¹, Marcell Wolf¹, Luca Ianeselli¹, Michael Ziller¹, Maximilian W. A. Skoda², Robert M. J. Jacobs³, Oliver Kohlbacher⁴, Sophie Weggler⁵, Andreas Hildbrandt⁵, and Frank Schreiber¹ — ¹Institut für Angewandte Physik, Universität Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany — ²ISIS, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK — ³Department of Chemistry, CRL, University of Oxford, UK — ⁴Zentrum für Bioinformatik Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany — ⁵Zentrum für Bioinformatik Saar, Saarbrücken, Germany

The effective interactions and phase behavior of protein solutions under strong electrostatic coupling conditions are a challenge to our understanding due to the complex charge pattern and irregular geometry of protein surfaces, which distinguishes them from related systems such as DNA or conventional colloids. In this work, we discuss the question of the universality of the reentrant condensation (RC) of proteins in solution induced by multivalent counterions, i.e. redissolution upon adding further salts after phase separation, as recently discovered [1]. The discussion is based on a systematic investigation of five different proteins with different charge patterns with five typical multivalent counterions. Zeta potential measurements confirm the effective charge inversion of proteins in the reentrant regime via binding of multivalent counterions. [1] F. Zhang, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 2008, 101, 148101.