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Updated: Jul 11, 2025

Folding and Characterization of a Bio-responsive Robot from DNA Origami
Published on: December 3, 2015
Transformable DNA Nanorobots Reversibly Regulating Cell Membrane Receptors for Modulation of Cellular Migrations
Bin Li1, Yuning Wang2, Baohong Liu1
1Department of Chemistry, Shanghai Stomatological Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Oligomerization of cellular membrane receptors plays crucial roles in activating intracellular downstream signaling cascades for controlling cellular behaviors in physiological and pathological processes. However, the reversible and controllable regulation of receptors in a user-defined manner remains challenging. Herein, we developed a versatile DNA nanorobot (nR) with installed aptamers and hairpin structures to reversibly and controllably regulate cell migration. This was achieved by dimerization and de-dimerization of mesenchymal-epithelial transition (Met) receptors through DNA strand displacement reactions. The functionalized DNA nR not only plays similar roles as hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) in inducing cell migration but also allows a downgrade to the original state of cell migration. The advanced DNA nanomachines can be flexibly designed to target other receptors for manipulating cellular behaviors and thus represent a powerful tool for the future of biological and medical engineering.
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