IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v461y2009i7260d10.1038_nature08274.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

From molecular to macroscopic via the rational design of a self-assembled 3D DNA crystal

Author

Listed:
  • Jianping Zheng

    (New York University)

  • Jens J. Birktoft

    (New York University)

  • Yi Chen

    (Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA)

  • Tong Wang

    (New York University)

  • Ruojie Sha

    (New York University)

  • Pamela E. Constantinou

    (New York University
    Present address: Department of Bioengineering, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, MS-142, Houston, Texas 77005, USA.)

  • Stephan L. Ginell

    (Structural Biology Center, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA)

  • Chengde Mao

    (Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA)

  • Nadrian C. Seeman

    (New York University)

Abstract

Designer DNA crystals Creating a macroscopic object, such as a crystal, with the microscopic molecular structure desired is a challenge. One promising approach is the use of macromolecules with robust three-dimensional motifs and sticky ends so that, by attaching to one another, they can form a periodic arrangement that can be investigated by crystallographic techniques. Zheng et al. use DNA for this purpose, arranged in a structural motif called a tensegrity triangle, and can grow crystals of the order of 200 micrometres in size, in which the positions of the atoms can be determined with a precision of 4 Å. The highly specific interaction between complementary DNA strands makes it possible to realize the desired and designed structure for the unit cell of the crystal. The latter also exhibits periodic holes, which could potentially be used to host biomolecules in a three-dimensional periodic arrangement, making it possible to determine their structure even if they do not crystallize on their own.

Suggested Citation

  • Jianping Zheng & Jens J. Birktoft & Yi Chen & Tong Wang & Ruojie Sha & Pamela E. Constantinou & Stephan L. Ginell & Chengde Mao & Nadrian C. Seeman, 2009. "From molecular to macroscopic via the rational design of a self-assembled 3D DNA crystal," Nature, Nature, vol. 461(7260), pages 74-77, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:461:y:2009:i:7260:d:10.1038_nature08274
    DOI: 10.1038/nature08274
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature08274
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature08274?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Z. A. Arnon & S. Piperno & D. C. Redeker & E. Randall & A. V. Tkachenko & H. Shpaisman & O. Gang, 2024. "Acoustically shaped DNA-programmable materials," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    2. Chad R. Simmons & Tara MacCulloch & Miroslav Krepl & Michael Matthies & Alex Buchberger & Ilyssa Crawford & Jiří Šponer & Petr Šulc & Nicholas Stephanopoulos & Hao Yan, 2022. "The influence of Holliday junction sequence and dynamics on DNA crystal self-assembly," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Sungwook Woo & Sinem K. Saka & Feng Xuan & Peng Yin, 2024. "Molecular robotic agents that survey molecular landscapes for information retrieval," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:461:y:2009:i:7260:d:10.1038_nature08274. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.