Rapid chiral assembly of rigid DNA building blocks for molecular nanofabrication.

Journal article

Practical components for three-dimensional molecular nanofabrication must be simple to produce, stereopure, rigid, and adaptable. We report a family of DNA tetrahedra, less than 10 nanometers on a side, that can self-assemble in seconds with near-quantitative yield of one diastereomer. They can be connected by programmable DNA linkers. Their triangulated architecture confers structural stability; by compressing a DNA tetrahedron with an atomic force microscope, we have measured the axial compressibility of DNA and observed the buckling of the double helix under high loads.

Authors: Goodman, R; Schaap, I; Tardin, C; Erben, C; Berry, R

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Science (New York, N.Y.)
• Volume: 310
• Issue: 5754
• Pages: 1661-1665
• Publication date: 2005-12-01
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1120367
• EISSN: 1095-9203
• ISSN: 0036-8075
• Language: English
• Keywords: Stereoisomerism; Nucleic Acid Conformation; Microscopy, Atomic Force; Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; Nanotechnology; Models, Molecular; Chemistry, Physical; Base Pairing; DNA; Nanostructures; Molecular Structure; Physicochemical Phenomena; Nucleic Acid Hybridization; Dimerization; Elasticity; Base Sequence