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Nature Nanotechnology 3, 707–708 (1 December 2008) | doi:10.1038/nnano.2008.358

DNA Nanotechnology: Bacteria as factories

Chuan Zhang & Chengde Mao

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) — the molecule that encodes the genetic information in living systems — can be manipulated to build two- and three-dimensional designer nanostructures that can then be used as templates to make other nanostructures, as well as scaffolds to organize nanoparticles and proteins. However, making these nanostructures is time-consuming and expensive.