Chai Hong Xuan, Kayanuma Kanta, Suzuki Hiroaki, Takinoue Masahiro
Department of Life Science and Technology, Institute of Science Tokyo, 4259 Nagatsuta-cho, Yokohama, Kanagawa 226-8501, Japan.
Department of Precision Mechanics, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Chuo University, 1-13-27 Kasuga, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8551, Japan.
JACS Au. 2025 Jun 10;5(7):3249-3261. doi: 10.1021/jacsau.5c00421. eCollection 2025 Jul 28.
Biomolecular condensates are attracting attention for their bioinspired functionalities and potential applications. However, the influence of biomolecular structural properties on the complex phase behaviors of biomolecular condensates remains poorly understood. In particular, the effect of component anisotropicity on condensates has been largely overlooked despite the existence of highly anisotropic biological condensates, such as heterochromatin. In this study, we report the formation of DNA condensates based on tetrahedron-shaped DNA nanostructures (Tetra-motifs). We designed an anisotropic Tetra-motif with two distinct pairs of sticky ends. Linkers corresponding to the stronger pair were introduced to form connections between Tetra-motifs. Unlike the flexible X-branched DNA nanostructures (X-motifs), the rigid and anisotropic structure of Tetra-motifs enabled their concatenation into extended, string-like structures. We found that these string-like structures of Tetra-motifs formed condensates even without cross-linking of multivalent motifs, relying solely on entanglement of these string-like structures. Mechanical and microfluidic experiments revealed that the resulting string-based condensates are highly deformable. Furthermore, we demonstrated the control of this string-based condensate by external stimuli, including UV irradiation and temperature changes, suggesting its potential as a stimuli-responsive material.
生物分子凝聚物因其受生物启发的功能和潜在应用而备受关注。然而，生物分子结构特性对生物分子凝聚物复杂相行为的影响仍知之甚少。特别是，尽管存在高度各向异性的生物凝聚物，如异染色质，但组分各向异性对凝聚物的影响在很大程度上被忽视了。在本研究中，我们报道了基于四面体形状的DNA纳米结构（四面体基序）形成的DNA凝聚物。我们设计了一种具有两对不同粘性末端的各向异性四面体基序。引入与较强对相对应的连接子以在四面体基序之间形成连接。与柔性X分支DNA纳米结构（X基序）不同，四面体基序的刚性和各向异性结构使其能够连接成延伸的、线状结构。我们发现，即使没有多价基序的交联，这些四面体基序的线状结构也能形成凝聚物，仅依靠这些线状结构的缠结。力学和微流体实验表明，由此产生的基于线状结构的凝聚物具有高度的可变形性。此外，我们展示了通过外部刺激（包括紫外线照射和温度变化）对这种基于线状结构的凝聚物的控制，表明其作为刺激响应材料的潜力。
