Design Space for Complex DNA Structures

Abstract

Nucleic acids have emerged as effective materials for assembling complex nanoscale structures. To tailor the structures to function optimally for particular applications, a broad structural design space is desired. Despite the many discrete and extended structures demonstrated in the past few decades, the design space remains to be fully explored. In particular, the complex finite-sized structures produced to date have been typically based on a small number of structural motifs. Here, we perform a comprehensive study of the design space for complex DNA structures, using more than 30 distinct motifs derived from single-stranded tiles. These motifs self-assemble to form structures with diverse strand weaving patterns and specific geometric properties, such as curvature and twist. We performed a systematic study to control and characterize the curvature of the structures, and constructed a flat structure with a corrugated strand pattern. The work here reveals the broadness of the design space for complex DNA nanostructures.