Assembly of Dynamic Gated and Cascaded Transient DNAzyme Networks

The dynamic transient formation and depletion of G-quadruplexes regulate gene replication and transcription. This process was found to be related to various diseases such as cancer and premature aging. We report on the engineering of nucleic acid modules revealing dynamic, transient assembly and disassembly of G-quadruplex structures and G-quadruplex-based DNAzymes, gated transient processes, and cascaded dynamic transient reactions that involve G-quadruplex and DNAzyme structures. The dynamic transient processes are driven by functional DNA reaction modules activated by a fuel strand and guided toward dissipative operation by a nicking enzyme (Nt.BbvCI). The dynamic networks were further characterized by computational simulation of the experiments using kinetic models, allowing us to predict the dynamic performance of the networks under different auxiliary conditions applied to the systems. The systems reported herein could provide functional DNA machineries for the spatiotemporal control of G-quadruplex structures perturbing gene expression and thus provide a therapeutic means for related emergent diseases.