In‐Phase Assembly of Slim DNA Lattices with Small Circular DNA Motifs via Short Connections of 11 and 16 Base Pairs

Abstract

Two kinds of stable motif were constructed: SAE (semi-crossover, antiparallel, even half-turns) tile from one small circular DNA molecule (42 or 64 nt) and two linear oligonucleotides; and DAE (double-crossover, antiparallel, even half-turns) tile from one small circular DNA molecule (42 or 64 nt) and four linear oligonucleotides. With the SAE tiles, in-phase assembly of SAE-E (SAE tiles with even half-turns as connections (-E)) with the shortest -E of 11 base pairs (bp) generated homogeneous nanotubes with an average length of over 14 μm and a diameter of 16-20 nm; with the DAE tiles, in-phase assembly of DAE-O (DAE tiles with odd half-turns as connections (-O)) with the shortest -O of 16 bp produced slim monolayer nanoyarns (25-30 nm wide), nanoscarfs (100-300 nm wide), and nanoribbons (∼100 nm wide). Interestingly, a phenomenon we term "knitting nanoyarns" into nanoscarfs was observed. Finally a curvature mechanism according to the ring rotation directions is suggested to explain the formation of nanotubes, wavy nanoyarns, nanoscarfs, and nanoribbons.