Amphipathic DNA origami nanoparticles to scaffold and deform lipid membrane vesicles

We report a synthetic biology-inspired approach for the engineering of amphipathic DNA origami structures as membrane-scaffolding tools. The structures have a flat membrane-binding interface decorated with cholesterol-derived anchors. Sticky oligonucleotide overhangs on their side facets enable lateral interactions leading to the formation of ordered arrays on the membrane. Such a tight and regular arrangement makes our DNA origami capable of deforming free-standing lipid membranes, mimicking the biological activity of coat-forming proteins, for example, from the I-/F-BAR family.