Both DNA and RNA can serve as powerful building blocks for bottom-up fabrication of nanostructures. A pioneering concept proposed by Ned Seeman 30 years ago has led to an explosion of knowledge in DNA nanotechnology. RNA can be manipulated with simplicity characteristic of DNA, while possessing noncanonical base-pairing, versatile function and catalytic activity similar to proteins. However, standing in awe of the sensitivity of RNA to RNase degradation has made many scientists flinch away from RNA nanotechnology. Here we report the construction of stable RNA nanoparticles resistant to RNase digestion. The chemically modified RNA retained its property for correct folding in dimer formation, appropriate structure in procapsid binding, and biological activity in gearing phi29 nanomotor to package viral DNA and producing infectious viral particles. Our results demonstrate that it is practical to produce RNase resistant, biologically active and stable RNA for application in nanotechnology.Keywords 2'-F modification; pRNA; RNase resistant; dimer formation; phi29 DNA-packaging nanomotor Living organisms produce a wide variety of highly-ordered or patterned structures such as smart nanomachines and elegant arrays that are made up of macromolecules to perform diverse biological functions. RNA and DNA share certain common features via their unique properties of strand complementarities and self-assembly, which can serve as powerful building blocks for bottom-up fabrication of nanostructures and nanodevices. A pioneering concept introduced by Ned Seeman 30 years ago has led to an explosion of knowledge in DNA nanotechnology.1 -3 RNA can be manipulated with simplicity characteristic of DNA, while possessing noncanonical base-pairing, versatile function, and catalytic activity similar * Address correspondence to: Peixuan Guo, 3125 Eden Ave. Rm#1436, Vontz Center for Molecular Studies, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45267, Phone: (513) Fax: (513) 558-6079, guopn@ucmail.uc.edu. # These authors contributed equally Supporting Information Available: RNase stability datas for 2'-F-C and 2'-F-U pRNA Aa', sucrose sedimentation profiles of pRNA in presence of Mg 2+ , Mn 2+ and Sr 2+ . This material is available free of charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org. NIH Public AccessAuthor Manuscript ACS Nano. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2012 January 25. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript to proteins. Typically, RNA molecules contain a large variety of single-stranded stem-loops for inter-and/or intra-molecular interactions. These loops can serve as mounting dovetails, and thus, external linking dowels might not be needed in fabrication and assembly. 4 -8 Although the concept of RNA nanotechnology has been developed for more than ten years6 , 9 -13 (for review, see14), standing in awe of RNA to RNase degradation has made many scientists hesitant to apply RNA nanotechnology. The popularity in the study of RNA nanostructure has emerged only recently as reflected in ...

Recent advances in RNA nanotechnology have led to the emergence of a new field and brought vitality to the area of therapeutics (Guo P, The Emerging Field of RNA Nanotechnology, Nature Nanotechnology, 2010). Due to the complementary nature of the four nucleotides and its special catalytic activity, RNA can be manipulated with simplicity characteristic of DNA, while possessing versatile structure and diverse function similar to proteins. Loops and tertiary architecture serve as mounting dovetails or wedges to eliminate external linking dowels. Unique features in transcription, termination, self-assembly, self-processing, and acid-resistance enable in vivo production of nanoparticles harboring aptamer, siRNA, ribozyme, riboswitch, or other regulators for therapy, detection, regulation, and intracellular computation. The unique property of noncanonical base-pairing and stacking enables RNA to fold into well-defined structures for constructing nanoparticles with special functionalities.Bacteriophage phi29 DNA packaging motor is geared by a ring consisting of six packaging RNA (pRNA) molecules. pRNA is able to form a multimeric complex via the interaction of two reengineered interlocking loops. This unique feature makes it an ideal polyvalent vehicle for nanomachine fabrication, pathogen detection, and delivery of siRNA or other therapeutics. This review describes methods in using pRNA as a building block for the construction of RNA dimers, trimers and hexamers as nanoparticles in medical applications. Methods for industrial-scale production of large and stable RNA nanoparticles will be introduced. The unique favorable PK (pharmokinetics) profile with a half life (T 1/2 ) of 5-10 hours comparing to 0.25 of conventional 2′-F siRNA, and advantageous in vivo features such as non-toxicity, non-induction of interferons or non-stimulating of cytokine response in animals will also be reviewed.

The 117-nucleotide (nt) RNA, called the packaging RNA (pRNA) of bacteriophage phi29 DNA packaging motor, has been shown to be an efficient vector for the construction of RNA nanoparticles for the delivery of small interfering RNA (siRNA) into specific cancer or viral-infected cells. Currently, chemical synthesis of 117-nt RNA is not feasible commercially. In addition, labeling at specific locations on pRNA requires the understanding of its modular organization. Here, we report multiple approaches for the construction of a functional 117-base pRNA using two synthetic RNA fragments with variable modifications. The resulting bipartite pRNA was fully competent in associating with other interacting pRNAs to form dimers, as demonstrated by the packaging of DNA via the nanomotor and the assembly of phi29 viruses in vitro. The pRNA subunit assembled from bipartite fragments harboring siRNA or receptor-binding ligands were equally competent in assembling into dimers. The subunits carrying different functionalities were able to bind cancer cells specifically, enter the cell, and silence specific genes of interest. The pRNA nanoparticles were subsequently processed by Dicer to release the siRNA embedded within the nanoparticles. The results will pave the way toward the treatment of diseases using synthetic pRNA/siRNA chimeric nanoparticles.

Epidermal growth-factor receptor (EGFR) is involved in cell growth and proliferation and is over-expressed in malignant tissues. Although anti-EGFR-based immunotherapy became a standard of care for patients with EGFR-positive tumors, this strategy of addressing cancer tumors by targeting EGFR with monoclonal antibodies is less-developed for patient diagnostic and monitoring. Indeed, antibodies exhibit a slow blood clearance, which is detrimental for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. New molecular probes are proposed to overcome such limitations for patient monitoring, making use of low-molecular-weight protein scaffolds as alternatives to antibodies, such as Nanofitins with better pharmacokinetic profiles. Anti-EGFR Nanofitin B10 was reformatted by genetic engineering to exhibit a unique cysteine moiety at its C-terminus, which allows the development of a fast and site-specific radiolabeling procedure with F-4-fluorobenzamido-N-ethylamino-maleimide (F-FBEM). The in vivo tumor targeting and imaging profile of the anti-EGFR Cys-B10 Nanofitin was investigated in a double-tumor xenograft model by static small-animal PET at 2 h after tail-vein injection of the radiolabeled Nanofitin F-FBEM-Cys-B10. The image showed that the EGFR-positive tumor (A431) is clearly delineated in comparison to the EGFR-negative tumor (H520) with a significant tumor-to-background contrast.F-FBEM-Cys-B10 demonstrated a significantly higher retention in A431 tumors than in H520 tumors at 2.5 h post-injection with a A431-to-H520 uptake ratio of 2.53 ± 0.18 and a tumor-to-blood ratio of 4.55 ± 0.63. This study provides the first report of Nanofitin scaffold used as a targeted PET radiotracer for in vivo imaging of EGFR-positive tumor, with the anti-EGFR B10 Nanofitin used as proof-of-concept. The fast generation of specific Nanofitins via a fully in vitro selection process, together with the excellent imaging features of the Nanofitin scaffold, could facilitate the development of valuable PET-based companion diagnostics.

Two bisphosphonate adaptors were designed to immobilize histidine-tagged proteins onto glass substrates coated with a zirconium phosphonate monolayer, allowing efficient and oriented immobilization of capture proteins, affitins directed to lysozyme, on a microarray format. These bifunctional adaptors contain two phosphonic acid anchors at one extremity and either one nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) or two NTA groups at the other. The phosphonate groups provide a stable bond to the zirconium interface by multipoint attachment and allow high density of surface coverage of the linkers as revealed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Reversible high-density capture of histidine-tagged proteins is shown by real-time surface plasmon resonance enhanced ellipsometry and in a microarray format using fluorescence detection of AlexaFluor 647-labeled target protein. The detection sensitivity of the microarray for the target protein was below 1 nM, despite the monolayer arrangement of the probes, due to very low background staining, which allows high fluorescent signal-to-noise ratio. The performance of these Ni-NTA-modified zirconium phosphonate coated slides compared favorably to other types of microarray substrates, including slides with a nitrocellulose-based matrix, epoxide slides, and epoxide slides functionalized with Ni-NTA groups. This immobilization strategy has a large potential to fix any histidine-tagged proteins on zirconium or titanium ion surfaces.