Meta-DNA Origami Inspired by DNA Assembly

Innovation: Academia

Arizona State University

2020

Image: Qimono / Pixabay / CC BY - Creative Commons Attribution alone

Physically Assemble Structure

Living systems use physical materials to create structures to serve as protection, insulation, and other purposes. These structures can be internal (within or attached to the system itself), such as cell membranes, shells, and fur. They can also be external (detached), such as nests, burrows, cocoons, or webs. Because physical materials are limited and the energy required to gather and create new structures is costly, living systems must use both conservatively. Therefore, they optimize the structures’ size, weight, and density. For example, weaver birds use two types of vegetation to create their nests: strong, a few stiff fibers and numerous thin fibers. Combined, they make a strong, yet flexible, nest. An example of an internal structure is a bird’s bone. The bone is comprised of a mineral matrix assembled to create strong cross-supports and a tubular outer surface filled with air to minimize weight.

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Modify Size/Shape/Mass/Volume

Many living systems alter their physical properties, such as size, shape, mass, or volume. These modifications occur in response to the living system’s needs and/or changing environmental conditions. For example, they may do this to move more efficiently, escape predators, recover from damage, or for many other reasons. These modifications require appropriate response rates and levels. Modifying any of these properties requires materials to enable such changes, cues to make the changes, and mechanisms to control them. An example is the porcupine fish, which protects itself from predators by taking sips of water or air to inflate its body and to erect spines embedded in its skin.

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M-DNA origami from Arizona State University are micrometer-sized DNA structures created from smaller self-assembling DNA nanostructures.

Benefits

Reconfigurable
Dynamic

Applications

Nanostructures and devices
Drug delivery

UN Sustainable Development Goals Addressed

Goal 12: Responsible Production & Consumption

The Challenge

DNA origami is a highly programmable, promising new method for constructing customized objects and functional devices at the 10–100 nm scale. It involves using long single-stranded DNA nanostructures folded into different shapes. Scaling up this method to larger (micron to millimeter) sized DNA architectures opens the door to a winder range of applications, including metamaterial construction and surface-based biophysical assays.

Innovation Details

The “meta-DNA” (M-DNA) is a six-helix DNA nanostructure that functions more effectively than single-stranded DNA nanostructures. The researchers used a computational model to mimic the molecular behaviors of DNA strand assembly, including ‘left-‘ and ‘right-handed’ DNA. This allowed them to study advanced self-assembly techniques and enabled them to create diverse and complex M-DNA structures at the micrometer scale, including meta-multi-arm junctions, 3D polyhedrons, and various 2D/3D lattices.

Biological Model

DNA assembles using specific hydrogen bonding patterns known as “Watson-Crick” base pairing. This pairing dictate the iconic double structure in which DNA stores genetic information. This traditional structure is known as ‘B-form’ DNA, where the double helix winds to the right, also known as a ‘right-handed’ DNA. ‘Z-form’ DNA occurs when the double helix winds to the left, also known as a ‘left-handed’ DNA.

References

Journal article

Meta-DNA structures

Nature Chemistry

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