Can strand displacement take place in DNA triplexes?

This work studies strand displacement in the context of DNA triplexes. We observed that toehold-mediated strand displacement could proceed in DNA triplexes, but at a much slower rate than in DNA duplexes. In this study, strand displacement was studied with native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) for two molecular systems. While both systems were involved in branch migration in a DNA triplex, the toehold forms either a duplex or a triplex. This study provides a new strategy for sequence-specific strand displacement and it is useful for the construction of dynamic DNA nanostructures and control of smart DNA nanodevices.