Articles

DNA Origami Design of Dolphin-Shaped Structures with Flexible Tails

Danish National Research Foundation, Centre for DNA Nanotechnology (CDNA) at the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), University of Aarhus, DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark
Department of Molecular Biology, University of Aarhus, DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark
§ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Aarhus, DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark
Department of Chemistry, University of Aarhus, DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark
Wilhelm Johannsen Centre for Functional Genome Research, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
ACS Nano, 2008, 2 (6), pp 1213–1218
DOI: 10.1021/nn800215j
Publication Date (Web): June 10, 2008
Copyright © 2008 American Chemical Society
* Address correspondence to jk@mb.au.dk.

Abstract

Abstract Image

The DNA origami method allows the folding of long, single-stranded DNA sequences into arbitrary two-dimensional structures by a set of designed oligonucleotides. The method has revealed an unexpected strength and efficiency for programmed self-assembly of molecular nanostructures and makes it possible to produce fully addressable nanostructures with wide-reaching application potential within the emerging area of nanoscience. Here we present a user-friendly software package for designing DNA origami structures (http://www.cdna.dk/origami) and demonstrate its use by the design of a dolphin-like DNA origami structure that was imaged by high-resolution AFM in liquid. The software package provides automatic generation of DNA origami structures, manual editing, interactive overviews, atomic models, tracks the design history, and has a fully extendable toolbox. From the AFM images, it was demonstrated that different designs of the dolphin tail region provided various levels of flexibility in a predictable fashion. Finally, we show that the addition of specific attachment sites promotes dimerization between two independently self-assembled dolphin structures, and that these interactions stabilize the flexible tail.

Description of the programs in the DNA origami program package and the sequences of the oligonucleotides used in the dolphin origami structures used in this study. This material is available free of charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.

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Article Views: 4,066 Times
Received 8 April 2008
Date accepted 23 May 2008
Published online 10 June 2008
Published in print 1 June 2008
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