Exploring the Addressability of DNA Decorated Multifunctional Gold Nanoparticles with DNA Origami Template

The hybridization of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), along with other nanomaterials, has encouraged applications in biomedical imaging, plasmonic enhancement, and catalysts. However, the rational organization of AuNPs in nanotechnology fields remains difficult, which might require multiaddressability of nanoparticles for heterogeneous conjugation. In this work, multifunctional AuNPs were developed by conjugation of two types of DNA strands containing different sequences, which allowed the AuNPs to recognize multiple binding sites. The ratio of different sequences of DNA, and the different lengths of coding DNA oligos on the surface of the AuNPs, had varied influences on the functionality of the multifunctional DNA-AuNPs. This new type of DNA-decorated nanoparticles will enhance the diversity and complexity of nanoparticle-based bottom-up fabrication in materials science and bionanotechnology.