Shu Dan, Moll Wulf-Dieter, Deng Zhaoxiang, Mao Chengde, Guo Peixuan
Department of Pathobiology and Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907.
Nano Lett. 2004 Sep;4(9):1717-23. doi: 10.1021/nl0494497.
DNA and protein have been extensively scrutinized for feasibility as parts in nanotechnology, but another natural building block, RNA, has been largely ignored. RNA can be manipulated to form versatile shapes, thus providing an element of adaptability to DNA nanotechnology, which is predominantly based upon a double-helical structure. The DNA-packaging motor of bacterial virus phi29 contains six DNA-packaging RNAs (pRNA), which together form a hexameric ring via loop/loop interaction. Here we report that this pRNA can be redesigned to form a variety of structures and shapes, including twins, tetramers, rods, triangles, and 3D arrays several microns in size via interaction of programmed helical regions and loops. Three dimensional RNA array formation required a defined nucleotide number for twisting of the interactive helix and a palindromic sequence. Such arrays are unusually stable and resistant to a wide range of temperatures, salt concentrations, and pH.
DNA和蛋白质作为纳米技术的组成部分，其可行性已得到广泛研究，但另一种天然构建模块RNA在很大程度上被忽视了。RNA可以被操控形成多种形状，从而为主要基于双螺旋结构的DNA纳米技术提供了一种适应性元素。细菌病毒phi29的DNA包装马达包含六个DNA包装RNA（pRNA），它们通过环/环相互作用共同形成一个六聚体环。在此我们报告，这种pRNA可以被重新设计，通过编程螺旋区域和环的相互作用形成各种结构和形状，包括双体、四聚体、棒状、三角形以及尺寸达数微米的三维阵列。三维RNA阵列的形成需要特定数量的核苷酸用于相互作用螺旋的扭转以及一个回文序列。这种阵列异常稳定，能抵抗广泛的温度、盐浓度和pH值。
