Laboratory of Quality and Safety Risk Assessment for Aquatic Products on Storage and Preservation (Shanghai), Ministry of Agriculture, Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Aquatic-Product Process & Preservation, College of Food Science and Technology, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China.
Faculty of Land and Food Systems, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
Biosensors (Basel). 2023 Jul 23;13(7):755. doi: 10.3390/bios13070755.
DNA hydrogels have gained significant attention in recent years as one of the most promising functional polymer materials. To broaden their applications, it is critical to develop efficient methods for the preparation of bulk-scale DNA hydrogels with adjustable mechanical properties. Herein, we introduce a straightforward and efficient molecular design approach to producing physically pure DNA hydrogel and controlling its mechanical properties by adjusting the degree of hydrogen bonding in ultralong single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) precursors, which were generated using a dual rolling circle amplification (RCA)-based strategy. The effect of hydrogen bonding degree on the performance of DNA hydrogels was thoroughly investigated by analyzing the preparation process, morphology, rheology, microstructure, and entrapment efficiency of the hydrogels for Au nanoparticles (AuNPs)-BSA. Our results demonstrate that DNA hydrogels can be formed at 25 °C with simple vortex mixing in less than 10 s. The experimental results also indicate that a higher degree of hydrogen bonding in the precursor DNA resulted in stronger internal interaction forces, a more complex internal network of the hydrogel, a denser hydrogel, improved mechanical properties, and enhanced entrapment efficiency. This study intuitively demonstrates the effect of hydrogen bonding on the preparation and properties of DNA hydrogels. The method and results presented in this study are of great significance for improving the synthesis efficiency and economy of DNA hydrogels, enhancing and adjusting the overall quality and performance of the hydrogel, and expanding the application field of DNA hydrogels.
DNA 水凝胶作为最有前途的功能聚合物材料之一，近年来受到了广泛关注。为了拓宽其应用范围，开发高效的方法来制备具有可调节机械性能的大块 DNA 水凝胶至关重要。在此，我们介绍了一种简单有效的分子设计方法，通过调整超长长单链 DNA (ssDNA) 前体中的氢键程度来制备物理纯 DNA 水凝胶并控制其机械性能，该前体是使用基于双滚环扩增 (RCA) 的策略生成的。通过分析水凝胶的制备过程、形态、流变学、微观结构和金纳米粒子 (AuNPs)-BSA 的包埋效率，深入研究了氢键程度对 DNA 水凝胶性能的影响。我们的结果表明，DNA 水凝胶可以在 25°C 下通过简单的涡旋混合在不到 10 秒内形成。实验结果还表明，前体 DNA 中氢键程度越高，内部相互作用力越强，水凝胶的内部网络越复杂，水凝胶越致密，机械性能越好，包埋效率越高。本研究直观地展示了氢键对 DNA 水凝胶制备和性能的影响。本研究中提出的方法和结果对于提高 DNA 水凝胶的合成效率和经济性、增强和调整水凝胶的整体质量和性能以及扩大 DNA 水凝胶的应用领域具有重要意义。
