Tuning and assembling metal nanostructures with DNA

Abstract

Here, we highlight the strategies for the synthesis and tuning of a variety of metal nanostructures and nanoassemblies with oligonucleotides and their applications. We have discussed the importance of and need for various metal nanostructures and the role and suitability of DNA in building these nanostructures and nanoassemblies. A large part of this article is devoted to the discussion of DNA-mediated synthetic methods for metal nanostructures. The synthetic strategies are categorized into two groups - strategy 1 that uses DNA as the ligand for metal nanoparticles and subsequent assembly or modification and strategy 2 that uses DNA template-directed assemblies of metal nanoparticles.