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Updated: May 5, 2026
DNA-Tethered RNA Polymerase for Programmable In vitro Transcription and Molecular Computation
Published on: December 29, 2021
Programmed assembly of polymer-DNA conjugate nanoparticles with optical readout and sequence-specific activation of
Johannes P Magnusson1, Francisco Fernández-Trillo, Giovanna Sicilia
1School of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK. sebastian.spain@nottingham.ac.uk cameron.alexander@nottingham.ac.uk.
Abstract:
Soft micellar nanoparticles can be prepared from DNA conjugates designed to assemble via base pairing such that strands containing a polymer corona and a cholesterol tail generate controlled supramolecular architecture. Functionalization of one DNA conjugate strand with a biorecognition ligand results in shielding of the ligand when in the micelle, while encoding of the DNA sequences with overhangs allows supramolecular unpacking by addition of a complementary strand and sequence-specific unshielding of the ligand. The molecular assembly/disassembly and 'on-off' switch of the recognition signal is visualized by FRET pair signalling, PAGE and a facile turbidimetric binding assay, allowing direct and amplified readout of nucleic acid sequence recognition.
