Self-assembly of Complex Two-dimensional Shapes from Single-stranded DNA Tiles

Summary

DNA tiling is an effective approach to make programmable nanostructures. We describe the protocols to construct complex two-dimensional shapes by the self-assembly of single-stranded DNA tiles.

Abstract

Current methods in DNA nano-architecture have successfully engineered a variety of 2D and 3D structures using principles of self-assembly. In this article, we describe detailed protocols on how to fabricate sophisticated 2D shapes through the self-assembly of uniquely addressable single-stranded DNA tiles which act as molecular pixels on a molecular canvas. Each single-stranded tile (SST) is a 42-nucleotide DNA strand composed of four concatenated modular domains which bind to four neighbors during self-assembly. The molecular canvas is a rectangle structure self-assembled from SSTs. A prescribed complex 2D shape is formed by selecting the constituent molecular pixels (SSTs) from a 310-pixel molecular canvas and then subjecting the corresponding strands to one-pot annealing. Due to the modular nature of the SST approach we demonstrate the scalability, versatility and robustness of this method. Compared with alternative methods, the SST method enables a wider selection of information polymers and sequences through the use of de novo designed and synthesized short DNA strands.

Introduction

Previous nucleic acid self-assembly work^1-25 has led to the successful construction of a variety of complex structures, including DNA^{2–5,8,10–13,17,23} or RNA^7,22 periodic^3,4,7,22 and algorithmic⁵ two-dimensional lattices, ribbons^10,12 and tubes^4,12,13, 3D crystals¹⁷, polyhedra¹¹ and finite, 2D shapes^7,8. A particularly effective method is scaffolded DNA origami, whereby a single scaffold strand is folded by many short auxiliary staple strands to form a complex shape^{9,14–16....}

Protocol

1. DNA Sequence Design

1. Use UNIQUIMER software²⁷ to design a SST-finite structure by specifying the number of double helices, lengths of top and bottom helix for each double helix, and the crossover pattern to create a 24H × 28T canvas. After defining these parameters, the overall architecture (strand composition and the complementarity arrangement) is illustrated graphically in the program.
2. Generate sequences for the strands of the specified structure to meet the complementarity arrangement and additional requirements (if any). Design DNA sequences by minimizing the sequence symmetry²⁸ (for most of the structures).....

Results

The self-assembly of SSTs (Figure 1) will yield a 24H × 28T rectangle, as illustrated in Figure 2. DNA sequences for the different SSTs can be modified/optimized to enable streptavidin labeling (Figure 3 and 4), the transformation of a rectangle into a tube (Figure 5), the programmable self-assembly of SSTs to form tubes and rectangles of varying sizes (Figure 10), and the construction of 2D arbitrary shapes using the mo.......

Discussion

In the structure formation step, it is important to keep an appropriate concentration of magnesium cations (e.g., 15 mM) in the DNA strand mixture to self-assemble DNA nanostructures. Similarly, in the agarose gel characterization/purification step, it is important to keep an appropriate magnesium cation concentration (e.g., 10 mM) in the gel and the gel running buffer to retain the DNA nanostructures during electrophoresis. For the 24H×28T rectangle structure, we tested annealing in different Mg

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
DNA Strands	Integrated DNA Technology		Section 3.1
SYBR Safe DNA gel stain	Invitrogen	S33102	Section 3.4.2
Freeze'N Squeeze DNA Gel Extraction Spin Columns	BIO-RAD	731-6166	Section 3.6
Bruker's Sharp Nitride Lever Probes	Bruker AFM Probes	SNL10	Section 4.3
Safe Imager 2.0 Blue Light Transilluminator	Invitrogen	G6600	Section 3.6
Centrifuge 5430R	Eppendorf	5428 000.414	Section 3.6
Transmission Electron Microscope	Jeol	Jem 1400	Section 7.4
Multimode 8	Veeco		Section 4
Typhoon FLA 9000 Laser Scanner	GE Heathcare Life Sciences	28-9558-08	Section 3.5
Ultrapure Distilled water	Invitrogen	10977-023	Section 3.7.1
Mica disk	SPI Supplies	12001-26-2	Section 4.1
Steel mounting disk	Ted Pella, Inc.	16218	Section 4.1
carbon coated copper grid for TEM	Electron Microscopy Sciences	FCF400-Cu	Section 7.2
tweezers	Dumont	0203-N5AC-PO	Section 7.31
glow discharge system	Quorum Technologies	K100X	Section 7.2
DNA Engine Tetrad 2 Peltier Thermal Cycler	BIO-RAD	PTC–0240G	Section 3.3
Owl Easycast B2 Mini Gel Electrophoresis Systems	ThermoScientific	B2	Section 3.4.3
Seekam LE Agarose 500G	Lonza	50004	Section 3.4.1
GeneRuler 1kb Plus DNA Ladder, Ready-To-Use 75-20000bp	ThermoScientific	SM1333	Section 3.4.4
Nanodrop 2000c UV-vis Spectrophotometer	ThermoScientific		Section 3.7
0.2 um filter	Corning Inc.	431219	Section 7.1.2