De novo design of an RNA tile that self-assembles into a homo-octameric nanoprism.

Jinwen Yu,Zhiyu Liu,Chengde Mao,Guansong Wang,Wen Jiang

doi:10.1038/ncomms6724

Jinwen Yu, Zhiyu Liu + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6724

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Abstract

Rational, de novo design of RNA nanostructures can potentially integrate a wide array of structural and functional diversities. Such nanostructures have great promises in biomedical applications. Despite impressive progress in this field, all RNA building blocks (or tiles) reported so far are not geometrically well defined. They are generally flexible and can only assemble into a mixture of complexes with different sizes. To achieve defined structures, multiple tiles with different sequences are needed. In this study, we design an RNA tile that can homo-oligomerize into a uniform RNA nanostructure. The designed RNA nanostructure is characterized by gel electrophoresis, atomic force microscopy and cryogenic electron microscopy imaging. We believe that development along this line would help RNA nanotechnology to reach the structural control that is currently associated with DNA nanotechnology.

Highlights

Rational, de novo design of RNA nanostructures can potentially integrate a wide array of structural and functional diversities
The self-assembly behaviour is characterized by gel electrophoresis, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and cryogenic electron microscopy imaging
We believe that development along these lines would help RNA nanotechnology to reach the structural control that is currently associated with DNA nanotechnology

Summary

Introduction

De novo design of RNA nanostructures can potentially integrate a wide array of structural and functional diversities. No RNA tile has been developed to have enough structural rigidity to homopolymerize/oligomerize into a defined large architecture. Can we rationally design RNA tiles that are structurally well defined so that they can polymerize/oligomerize into homo-oligomers with defined structures and molecular weights? We report such a study: a de novo designed RNA tile that self-assembles into a homo-octameric cube.

Results

Conclusion