Editor's Summary

13 March 2008

Supramolecular structures

A variety of patterned materials and nanostructures have been made from DNA, by exploiting its programmability to control molecular interactions. But making larger, more complex three-dimensional structures with current fabrication methods would require hundreds of unique DNA strands, an impractical proposition. Help is at hand. A team from Purdue University has developed a modular approach that can be likened to a DNA equivalent of Lego bricks. A few DNA molecules are programmed to fold into a basic structural unit, with four, twenty or sixty copies of that unit then assembling according to reaction conditions into tetrahedra, dodecahedra or buckyballs, respectively. Other complex structures should also be accessible using this strategy.

Letter: Hierarchical self-assembly of DNA into symmetric supramolecular polyhedra

Yu He, Tao Ye, Min Su, Chuan Zhang, Alexander E. Ribbe, Wen Jiang & Chengde Mao

doi:10.1038/nature06597

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