Self-organized architectures from assorted DNA-framed nanoparticles

Abstract

The science of self-assembly has undergone a radical shift from asking questions about why individual components self-organize into ordered structures, to manipulating the resultant order. However, the quest for far-reaching nanomanufacturing requires addressing an even more challenging question: how to form nanoparticle (NP) structures with designed architectures without explicitly prescribing particle positions. Here we report an assembly concept in which building instructions are embedded into NPs via DNA frames. The integration of NPs and DNA origami frames enables the fabrication of NPs with designed anisotropic and selective interactions. Using a pre-defined set of different DNA-framed NPs, we show it is possible to design diverse planar architectures, which include periodic structures and shaped meso-objects that spontaneously emerge on mixing of the different topological types of NP. Even objects of non-trivial shapes, such as a nanoscale model of Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, can be self-assembled successfully.

Communication: Programmable self-assembly of thin-shell mesostructures

“…If the bending rigidity is high enough, the system assembles into a 2D sheet similar to the one recently observed experimentally in Ref. 32. However, if the rigidity K is turned off, the sheet rolls into a tube.…”

“…24,25 Important and versatile examples of those are DNA-caged or DNA-framed NPs. 22,23,32 For a) Electronic mail: oleksiyt@bnl.gov instance, in Ref. 32 the particles were integrated into squareshaped DNA origami constructs that could bind each other selectively in an edge-to-edge configuration, as shown in Fig.…”

“…30,31 That was followed-up by proof-ofprinciple experiments. 32 Our approach relies on the use of designer building blocks that we call directionally functionalized nanoparticles (dfNPs). The dfNPs, shown in Fig.…”

Recent advances in molecular machines based on toehold‐mediated strand displacement reaction

“…Furthermore, accurate positioning of AuNPs was achieved by integrating different origami structures with distinct shapes, and the plasmonic properties of the final nanostructures were finely modulated [51,52]. Recently, Gang's group proved that prescribed NP architectures can be efficiently constructed with assorted DNA frames [53,54].…”

Minimal Positive Design for Self-Assembly of the Archimedean Tilings

“…The resulting particles, which self-assemble into the desired networks, possess DNA-like selectivity of their interactions. Assembly of certain molecular networks may therefore require such selectivity.Molecular self-assembly is the spontaneous organization of molecules or other small particles into structures [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Despite many successes in the laboratory we lack complete understanding of how to design particles that will self-assemble into a desired structure: sometimes the outcome of self-assembly is an undesired structure, which might be metastable or kinetically trapped [11].…”