Steering DNA Condensation on Engineered Nanointerfaces

Abstract

DNA has received increasing attention in nanotechnology due to its ability to fold into prescribed structures. Different from the commonly adopted base-pairing strategy, an emerging class of amorphous DNA materials are formed by DNA’s abiological interactions. Despite the great successes, a lack of nanoscale nucleation/growth control disables more advanced considerations. This work aims at harnessing the heterogeneous nucleation of metal-ion-glued DNA condensates on nanointerfaces. Upon unveiling key orthogonal factors including solution pH, ionic cross-linkers, and surface functionalities, chemically programmable DNA condensation on nanoparticle seeds is achieved, resembling a famous Stöber process for silica coating. The nucleation rules discovered on individual nanoseeds can be passed on to their dimeric assemblies, where broken spherical symmetry and the existence of interparticle gaps help a regiospecific DNA gelation. The steerable DNA condensation, and the multifunctions from DNA, metal ions, and nanocores, hold a great promise in noncanonical DNA nanotechnology toward novel applications.

One-Step, On-Site Chemical Printing of a 3D Plasmon-Coupled Silver Nanocoral Substrate toward SERS-Based POCT

“…The drastic reduction of fluorescence intensities demonstrates that about 91.36% DNA has combined on the substrate during the formation process of AgNCs. In our previous research, Cu 2+ has been proved to have a strong interaction with DNA, which can induce the polymerization of DNA to form flexible materials . Therefore, we assumed that the produced Cu 2+ by the galvanic replacement reaction polymerizes FSDNA and provides a template for the growth of AgNCs.…”

“…Therefore, the coral-like silver substrate can be rapidly printed on the cooper sheets, taking 5 min, in only one step. According to our previous research, the Cu 2+ -induced DNA polymerization enables the formation of hydrogel-like structures, which provide a stable soft template to the nucleation and growth of AgNCs . Note that it is the polymerized DNA template that guarantees the stability and uniformity of the formed AgNCs.…”

“…According to our previous research, the Cu 2+ -induced DNA polymerization enables the formation of hydrogel-like structures, which provide a stable soft template to the nucleation and growth of AgNCs. 29 Note that it is the polymerized DNA template that guarantees the stability and uniformity of the formed AgNCs. In detail, the crosslink of the DNA template can block the surface of AgNCs to control their growth process for ensuring the structure uniformity.…”

“…Our process developed in this work for the high-activity SERS substrate preparation is an original method based on our previous work. 29 The FSDNA solution was prepared in advance by dissolving FSDNA powder with tris-HCl (25 mM, pH = 8). 10 μL of FSDNA (1 μg/μL) and 10 μL of AgNO 3 (80 mM) were well mixed in a tube.…”

High-entropy alloy nanopatterns by prescribed metallization of DNA origami templates

“…For the latter, based on coordination between metal cations and bases in protruding clustered DNA (pcDNA), we established a nano-addressable pcDNA condensation and intrinsic metallization patterning (DCIMP) principle on all-DNA origami templates. Like in a recent report on DNA condensation on nanointerfaces 46 , metal cations can site-specifically coordinate with DNA bases in pcDNA prescribed on DNA origami substrate (osDNA) to increase the local concentration of metal ions. The condensed pcDNA with metal ions in turn serves as a nucleation site for the subsequent metal-plating process.…”