Point-and-shoot Strategy based on Enzyme-assisted DNA "Paper-Cutting" to Construct Arbitrary Planar DNA Nanostructures.

Abstract

DNA self-assembly provides a "bottom-up" route to fabricating complex shapes on the nanometer scale. However, each structure needs to be designed separately and carried out by professionally trained technicians, which seriously restricts its development and application. Herein, a point-and-shoot strategy based on enzyme-assisted DNA "paper-cutting" to construct planar DNA nanostructures using the same DNA origami as the template is reported. Precisely modeling the shapes with high precision in the strategy based on each staple strand of the desired shape structure hybridizes with its nearest neighbor fragments from the long scaffold strand. As a result, some planar DNA nanostructures by one-pot annealing the long scaffold strand and selected staple strands is constructed. The point-and-shoot strategy of avoiding DNA origami staple strands' re-designing based on different shapes breaks through the shape complexity limitation of the planar DNA nanostructures and enhances the simplicity of design and operation. Overall, the strategy's simple operability and great generality enable it to act as a candidate tool for manufacturing DNA nanostructures.