Faculty of Physics and Center for Nanoscience (CeNS), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539, München, Germany.
Adv Mater. 2018 Jul;30(28):e1800273. doi: 10.1002/adma.201800273. Epub 2018 May 18.
3D crystals assembled entirely from DNA provide a route to design materials on a molecular level and to arrange guest particles in predefined lattices. This requires design schemes that provide high rigidity and sufficiently large open guest space. A DNA-origami-based "tensegrity triangle" structure that assembles into a 3D rhombohedral crystalline lattice with an open structure in which 90% of the volume is empty space is presented here. Site-specific placement of gold nanoparticles within the lattice demonstrates that these crystals are spacious enough to efficiently host 20 nm particles in a cavity size of 1.83 × 10 nm , which would also suffice to accommodate ribosome-sized macromolecules. The accurate assembly of the DNA origami lattice itself, as well as the precise incorporation of gold particles, is validated by electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering experiments. The results show that it is possible to create DNA building blocks that assemble into lattices with customized geometry. Site-specific hosting of nano objects in the optically transparent DNA lattice sets the stage for metamaterial and structural biology applications.
完全由 DNA 组装而成的 3D 晶体为在分子水平上设计材料以及在预定晶格中排列客体颗粒提供了一种途径。这需要提供高刚性和足够大的开放客体空间的设计方案。本文提出了一种基于 DNA 折纸的“张拉整体三角形”结构，它可以组装成具有开放结构的三维菱面体晶格，其中 90%的体积为空。在晶格内的特定位置放置金纳米颗粒证明，这些晶体的空间足够大，可以在空腔尺寸为 1.83×10nm 的空腔中有效地容纳 20nm 颗粒，这也足以容纳核糖体大小的大分子。DNA 折纸晶格本身的精确组装以及金颗粒的精确掺入，通过电子显微镜和小角 X 射线散射实验得到了验证。结果表明，可以创建组装成具有定制几何形状的晶格的 DNA 构建块。在光学透明的 DNA 晶格中对纳米物体进行特定位置的容纳为超材料和结构生物学应用奠定了基础。
