Letter abstract


Nature Nanotechnology 3, 418 - 422 (2008)
Published online: 22 June 2008 | doi:10.1038/nnano.2008.164

Subject Categories: Molecular self-assembly | Nanobiotechnology

Self-assembled DNA nanostructures for distance-dependent multivalent ligand–protein binding

Sherri Rinker1,2, Yonggang Ke1,2, Yan Liu1, Rahul Chhabra1 & Hao Yan1


An important goal of nanotechnology is to assemble multiple molecules while controlling the spacing between them. Of particular interest is the phenomenon of multivalency, which is characterized by simultaneous binding of multiple ligands on one biological entity to multiple receptors on another1. Various approaches have been developed to engineer multivalency by linking multiple ligands together2, 3, 4. However, the effects of well-controlled inter-ligand distances on multivalency are less well understood. Recent progress in self-assembling DNA nanostructures with spatial and sequence addressability5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 has made deterministic positioning of different molecular species possible8, 11, 12, 13. Here we show that distance-dependent multivalent binding effects can be systematically investigated by incorporating multiple-affinity ligands into DNA nanostructures with precise nanometre spatial control. Using atomic force microscopy, we demonstrate direct visualization of high-affinity bivalent ligands being used as pincers to capture and display protein molecules on a nanoarray. These results illustrate the potential of using designer DNA nanoscaffolds to engineer more complex and interactive biomolecular networks.

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  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Centre for Single Molecule Biophysics at the Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA
  2. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Correspondence to: Hao Yan1 e-mail: hao.yan@asu.edu

Correspondence to: Yan Liu1 e-mail: yan_liu@asu.edu



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