Abstract
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) has been widely used to construct homogeneous structures with increasing complexity for biological and biomedical applications due to their powerful functionalities. Especially, dynamic DNA assemblies (DDAs) have demonstrated the ability to simulate molecular motions and fluctuations in bionic systems. DDAs, including DNA robots, DNA probes, DNA nanochannels, DNA templates, etc., can perform structural transformations or predictable behaviors in response to corresponding stimuli and show potential in the fields of single molecule sensing, drug delivery, molecular assembly, etc. A wave of exploration of the principles in designing and usage of DDAs has occurred, however, knowledge on these concepts is still limited. Although some previous reviews have been reported, systematic and detailed reviews are rare. To achieve a better understanding of the mechanisms in DDAs, herein, the recent progress on the fundamental principles regarding DDAs and their applications are summarized. The relative assembly principles and computer‐aided software for their designing are introduced. The advantages and disadvantages of each software are discussed. The motional mechanisms of the DDAs are classified into exogenous and endogenous stimuli‐triggered responses. The special dynamic behaviors of DDAs in biomedical applications are also summarized. Moreover, the current challenges and future directions of DDAs are proposed.
Highlights
We focus on working mechanisms and biomedical applications of dynamic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) assemblies (DDAs)
In a pure DNA hydrogel system constructed by Luo and co-workers, the branched DNA blocks were designed with palindromic complementary sticky end, and the formation was catalyzed by T4 DNA ligase.[184]
In the past two decades, the development of new DNA machines for biomedical applications has become a hot topic in nanoscience and nanotechnology
Summary
The “one pot” method is the basic approach for DNA nanostructure assembly (Figure 1).[9]. Dietz et al controlled the twist and curvature of DNA helix by positionally inserting or deleting base pair in the bundle, demonstrating that the feasibility of the construction of CPDONs with twist and curvature (Figure 2B).[26] Later, Han et al proposed a strategy for constructing CPDONs with more intricate curved surfaces by adding an array of crossovers between adjacent helices They successfully verified the strategy on 2D shapes like concentric ring and concentric square frame structure, and complex 3D DNA architectures like hemisphere, sphere, ellipsoidal shell, etc. In 2015, Gerling et al added a new chapter to the assembly of DNA origami.[29] They demonstrated that discrete 3D DNA components with complementary concave/convex domains could achieve specific self-assembling based on shape-complementarity without DNA base pairing (Figure 2D), which was similar to stacking toy bricks. A seven-ring interlocked DNA catenane system displayed the unique ability of reversible switchable reconstruction in the presence of fuel strands and antifuel strands (Figure 3E).[49]
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