Nonspecific metal-coordination-driven control over higher-order DNA self-assembly

Area of Science:

• Nanotechnology
• Biochemistry
• Materials Science

Background:

• DNA nanostructures rely on non-covalent interactions for self-assembly.
• Introducing covalent interactions could enhance control over DNA nanostructures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore silver ions (Ag+) as a versatile coordination-driven regulation strategy for higher-order DNA self-assembly.
• To investigate the impact of Ag+ on DNA origami and tile-based nanostructures.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing silver ions (Ag+) to induce coordination-driven self-assembly of DNA nanostructures.
• Examining the effects of Ag+ on DNA origami and tile-based architectures.
• Demonstrating switchable disassembly and re-assembly using Ag+ and cysteine.

Main Results:

• Silver ions (Ag+) condense scaffold DNA, inhibiting DNA origami formation.
• Ag+ enables switchable disassembly and re-assembly of DNA tile-based architectures.
• The coordination-driven strategy shows versatility with Ag+.

Conclusions:

• Silver ions (Ag+) offer a general and versatile coordination-driven strategy for regulating DNA self-assembly.
• This approach enriches the control toolbox in DNA nanotechnology.
• The strategy can be extended to other metal ions for novel DNA self-assembly controls.