Prescribing DNA Origami Patterns via Scaffold Decoration.

Abstract

DNA origami has rapidly emerged as a powerful technique to fabricate user-defined DNA nanostructures. However, the ability to custom-make patterns on DNA origami template is hampered by the heavy workload and high cost of changing staple DNA (up to several hundred strands per set). Here, a scaffold-decorated DNA origami method is developed by prescribing the pattern information to the scaffold DNA. For each pixel of an origami, a designed "pixel strand" (P-strand) is hybridized to the scaffold, strongly preoccupying a specific position and competing with invading staples in a mild origami assembly. To fabricate a new origami pattern, the P-strand set needs to be replaced with a universal staple set. The yield of thus-fabricated DNA origami patterns is comparable to a conventional DNA origami with canonical method. One-pot fabrication of three different nanopatterns in a single test-tube is further demonstrated. Also, dynamic switch of the pattern is shown. This method provides a generic approach and offers large flexibility for scaling up the nanofabrication with DNA origami by kinetically modulating the reaction pathway of the staples with the scaffold DNA, which represents a novel route in the self-assembly of complex biomolecular systems.