Molecular Printing with DNA Nanotechnology

Abstract

Summary DNA nanotechnology has generated a wealth of structures uniquely suited for nanoscale patterning; however, scalability, affordability, and recyclability are important preconditions for the industrial production and widespread use of DNA-based materials. In this perspective, we propose that “printing” programmed particles from transient DNA templates provides a practical pathway toward overcoming these hurdles. Just as a printing press transfers ink to paper in a cyclical process, DNA can translocate materials from one substrate to another while preserving spatial information. DNA printing decorates a particle with arbitrarily designed patterns that break its symmetry, enabling its autonomous assembly into complex structures. Printing thus organizes anisotropic particles with high throughput: a single DNA scaffold engenders template recyclability and hybrid material scale-up. By applying DNA-based printing methods to increasingly diverse materials, we will export DNA nanotechnology to other research areas and generate multivalent, asymmetric structures for scalable, nanoscale control of structure and function.