Selective Nascent Polymer Catch-and-Release Enables Scalable Isolation of Multi-Kilobase Single-Stranded DNA

Scalable methods currently are lacking for isolation of long ssDNA, an important material for numerous biotechnological applications. Conventional biomolecule purification strategies achieve target capture using solid supports, which are limited in scale and susceptible to contamination owing to nonspecific adsorption and desorption on the substrate surface. We herein disclose selective nascent polymer catch and release (SNAPCAR), a method that utilizes the reactivity of growing poly(acrylamide-co-acrylate) chains to capture acrylamide-labeled molecules in free solution. The copolymer acts as a stimuli-responsive anchor that can be precipitated on demand to pull down the target from solution. SNAPCAR enabled scalable isolation of multi-kilobase ssDNA with high purity and 50-70 % yield. The ssDNA products were used to fold various DNA origami. SNAPCAR-produced ssDNA will expand the scope of applications in nanotechnology, gene editing, and DNA library construction.