DNA and RNA articles from across Nature Portfolio

Artificial biomolecular condensates are valuable tools to study the design principles of phase separation. Here, the authors demonstrate and characterize a model system of artificial DNA condensates whose kinetic formation and dissolution depends on DNA inputs that activate or deactivate the phase separating DNA subunits.

The controlled positioning and stoichiometry of aptamers on tetrahedral DNA frameworks enables the synthesis of targeted probes for the capture of circulating tumor cells from blood samples.

The composition of lipid nanoparticles for the delivery of tumour-antigen-encoding mRNA can be optimized via a screening method to enhance antitumour activity via the modulation of the immune activity of helper T cells.

Mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) play critical roles in human diseases. Here, the authors describe an integrated Cas12a sensor for sensing mtDNA mutations in vivo, showing potential for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

In vitro-transcribed RNA is a promising emerging class of therapeutic, but the poor specificity of cargo RNAs so far has limited their application in cancer immunotherapy. A new study reports the delivery of a synthetic circular RNA with inline cis-acting translational elements — encoding an engineered, mitochondrion-specific oncolytic protein — that shows both therapeutic and prophylactic potential against adenocarcinoma.

We designed a method for fast aptamer selection by integrating biomaterials science, engineering principles and biology. Aptamer candidates dynamically interacting with immobilized targets in a three-dimensional, non-fouling and macroporous polyethylene glycol hydrogel were rapidly enriched and selected with high affinity against five protein targets.

RNA therapeutics have benefited significantly from decades of research on lipid nanoparticles, specifically its key component—the ionizable lipid. This comment discusses the major ionizable lipid types, and provides perspectives for future development.

DNA is much more than the genetic information it carries. It is a versatile material for creating systems with tailor-made functionalities that are having an important impact in emerging technologies.

Data-encoded DNA sequences have been encapsulated in barcoded silica beads for a random access storage system without PCR amplification.

In biological systems, order typically emerges from out-of-equilibrium molecular processes that control both static patterns and dynamic changes. Now, the self-regulating assembly and disassembly of a synthetic system has been achieved on the micrometre scale, by coupling the growth of a DNA nanotube to a biochemical oscillator.