Xiao Fan, Chen Zhe, Wei Zixiang, Tian Leilei
Department of Materials Science and Engineering Southern University of Science and Technology 1088 Xueyuan Blvd. Nanshan District Shenzhen Guangdong 518055 P. R. China.
School of Materials Science and Engineering Harbin Institute of Technology Nangang District Harbin 150001 P. R. China.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2020 Jul 1;7(16):2001048. doi: 10.1002/advs.202001048. eCollection 2020 Aug.
The comprehensive understanding and proper use of supramolecular interactions have become critical for the development of functional materials, and so is the biomedical application of nucleic acids (NAs). Relatively rare attention has been paid to hydrophobic interaction compared with hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interaction of NAs. However, hydrophobic interaction shows some unique properties, such as high tunability for application interest, minimal effect on NA functionality, and sensitivity to external stimuli. Therefore, the widespread use of hydrophobic interaction has promoted the evolution of NA-based biomaterials in higher-order self-assembly, drug/gene-delivery systems, and stimuli-responsive systems. Herein, the recent progress of NA-based biomaterials whose fabrications or properties are highly determined by hydrophobic interactions is summarized. 1) The hydrophobic interaction of NA itself comes from the accumulation of base-stacking forces, by which the NAs with certain base compositions and chain lengths show properties similar to thermal-responsive polymers. 2) In conjugation with hydrophobic molecules, NA amphiphiles show interesting self-assembly structures with unique properties in many new biosensing and therapeutic strategies. 3) The working-mechanisms of some NA-based complex materials are also dependent on hydrophobic interactions. Moreover, in recent attempts, NA amphiphiles have been applied in organizing macroscopic self-assembly of DNA origami and controlling the cell-cell interactions.
对超分子相互作用的全面理解和恰当运用对于功能材料的开发至关重要，核酸（NAs）的生物医学应用亦是如此。与核酸的氢键和静电相互作用相比，疏水相互作用受到的关注相对较少。然而，疏水相互作用展现出一些独特性质，例如对应用兴趣具有高度可调节性、对核酸功能影响极小以及对外部刺激敏感。因此，疏水相互作用的广泛应用推动了基于核酸的生物材料在高阶自组装、药物/基因递送系统以及刺激响应系统中的发展。在此，总结了基于核酸的生物材料的最新进展，其制备或性质高度取决于疏水相互作用。1）核酸自身的疏水相互作用源于碱基堆积力的积累，通过这种方式，具有特定碱基组成和链长的核酸表现出与热响应聚合物相似的性质。2）与疏水分子共轭时，核酸两亲分子在许多新的生物传感和治疗策略中展现出具有独特性质的有趣自组装结构。3）一些基于核酸的复合材料的作用机制也依赖于疏水相互作用。此外，在最近的尝试中，核酸两亲分子已被应用于组织DNA折纸的宏观自组装以及控制细胞间相互作用。
