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Published online 6 May 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.449
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DNA twisted into boxes
Molecular keys can open tiny containers.
A multidisciplinary team of researchers has created tiny DNA strongboxes measuring just 30 nanometres on each side1. The boxes, which can be unlocked with a gene 'key', could be used for drug delivery or as sensors.
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The patterns of raised features on origami demonstrated in Paul Rothemund's 2006 Nature article (the map, etc.) exploited the availability of ~200 unique, sequence-addressable attachment sites in the structure, the ends of the staple strands. Structures like the box in the present work are built of the same motifs and will afford the same capability, but with attachment points no longer constrained to a plane surface. Although the raised features in Paul's work consisted of folded DNA, enabling convenient synthesis as simple extensions of the staple-strand oligos, this is by no means a constraint.
Well, This looks like the beginning of a new era in the field of pharmacology and drug delivery and i think it will be very useful if the dna box can itself localise to certain markers in cancer cells and deliver the drug at the right spot. This will minimise the adverse effect of chemotherapy which is a major limiting factor in their usage.
Drug delivery is certainly going to be extended in terms of sophisticated therapy. DNA cubes are possibly made up by menifesting electrostatic properties of biomolecules. Hope to impart vitality to pharmacology field