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Dynamic patterning programmed by DNA tiles captured on a DNA origami substrate

Abstract

The aim of nanotechnology is to put specific atomic and molecular species where we want them, when we want them there. Achieving such dynamic and functional control could lead to programmable chemical synthesis and nanoscale systems that are responsive to their environments. Structural DNA nanotechnology offers a powerful route to this goal by combining stable branched DNA motifs1 with cohesive ends to produce programmed nanomechanical devices2 and fixed3,4,5 or modified6,7 patterned lattices. Here, we demonstrate a dynamic form of patterning8 in which a pattern component is captured between two independently programmed DNA devices. A simple and robust error-correction protocol has been developed that yields programmed targets in all cases. This capture system can lead to dynamic control either on patterns or on programmed elements; this capability enables computation or a change of structural state as a function of information in the surroundings of the system.

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Figure 1: Schematics of the four different capture molecules.
Figure 2: Origami arrays and capture molecules.
Figure 3: Atomic force micrographs of the correction procedure for the diamond-shaped capture molecule.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to A. Carbone, H. Yan, N. Jonoska and C. Mao for comments on this manuscript. This research has been supported by grants to N.C.S. from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the National Science Foundation, the Army Research Office, the NYNBIT program of the Department of Energy and the W.M. Keck Foundation and to S.J.X. from the National Basic Research Program of China (no. 2007CB925101) and NSFC (no. 20721002). J.C. thanks the Chinese Scholarship Council for a research fellowship.

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Gu, H., Chao, J., Xiao, SJ. et al. Dynamic patterning programmed by DNA tiles captured on a DNA origami substrate. Nature Nanotech 4, 245–248 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2009.5

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