Silver-mediated base pairings: towards dynamic DNA nanostructures with enhanced chemical and thermal stability

Abstract

The thermal and chemical fragility of DNA nanomaterials assembled by Watson–Crick (WC) pairing constrain the settings in which these materials can be used and how they can be functionalized. Here we investigate use of the silver cation, Ag+, as an agent for more robust, metal-mediated self-assembly, focusing on the simplest duplex building blocks that would be required for more elaborate Ag+–DNA nanostructures. Our studies of Ag+-induced assembly of non-complementary DNA oligomers employ strands of 2–24 bases, with varied base compositions, and use electrospray ionization mass spectrometry to determine product compositions. High yields of duplex products containing narrowly distributed numbers of Ag+ can be achieved by optimizing solution conditions. These Ag+-mediated duplexes are stable to at least 60 mM Mg2+, higher than is necessary for WC nanotechnology schemes such as tile assemblies and DNA origami, indicating that sequential stages of Ag+-mediated and WC-mediated assembly may be feasible. Circular dichroism spectroscopy suggests simple helical structures for Ag+-mediated duplexes with lengths to at least 20 base pairs, and further indicates that the structure of cytosine-rich duplexes is preserved at high urea concentrations. We therefore propose an approach towards dynamic DNA nanomaterials with enhanced thermal and chemical stability through designs that combine sturdy silver-mediated ‘frames’ with WC paired ‘pictures’.