No abstract

With the introduction of the DNA origami technique, it became possible to rapidly synthesize almost arbitrarily shaped molecular nanostructures at nearly stoichiometric yields. The technique furthermore provides absolute addressability in the sub-nm range, rendering DNA origami nanostructures highly attractive substrates for the controlled arrangement of functional species such as proteins, dyes, and nanoparticles. Consequently, DNAorigami nanostructures have found applications in numerous areas of fundamental and applied research, ranging from drug delivery to biosensing to plasmonics to inorganic materials synthesis. Since many of those applications rely on structurally intact, well-definedDNA origami shapes, the issue of DNA origami stability under numerous application-relevant environmental conditions has received increasing interest in the past few years. In this mini-review we discuss the structural stability, denaturation, and degradation of DNA origami nanostructures under different conditions relevant to the fields of biophysics and biochemistry, biomedicine, and materials science, and the methods to improve their stability for desired applications.

DNA origami represent powerful platforms for single-molecule investigations of biomolecular processes. The required structural integrity of the DNA origami may, however, pose significant limitations regarding their applicability, for instance in protein folding studies that require strongly denaturing conditions. Here, we therefore report a detailed study on the stability of 2D DNA origami triangles in the presence of the strong chaotropic denaturing agents urea and guanidinium chloride (GdmCl) and its dependence on concentration and temperature. At room temperature, the DNA origami triangles are stable up to at least 24 h in both denaturants at concentrations as high as 6 M. At elevated temperatures, however, structural stability is governed by variations in the melting temperature of the individual staple strands. Therefore, the global melting temperature of the DNA origami does not represent an accurate measure of their structural stability. Although GdmCl has a stronger effect on the global melting temperature, its attack results in less structural damage than observed for urea under equivalent conditions. This enhanced structural stability most likely originates from the ionic nature of GdmCl. By rational design of the arrangement and lengths of the individual staple strands used for the folding of a particular shape, however, the structural stability of DNA origami may be enhanced even further to meet individual experimental requirements. Overall, their high stability renders DNA origami promising platforms for biomolecular studies in the presence of chaotropic agents, including single-molecule protein folding or structural switching.

GuidoG rundmeier, [a] AdrianK eller,* [a] andV eikkoL inko* [a, b, c] DNA nanostructures have emerged as intriguing tools for numerous biomedical applications. However, in many of those applicationsa nd most notably in drug delivery,t heir stability and function may be compromised by the biological media. A particularly important issue for medicala pplications is their interaction with proteins such as endonucleases, which may degrade the well-defined nanoscale shapes.H erein, fundamental insights into this interaction are provided by monitoring DNase Id igestion of four structurally distinct DNA origami nanostructures (DONs) in real time and at as ingle-structure level by using high-speed atomic force microscopy.T he effect of the solid-liquidi nterface on DON digestioni sa lso assessed by comparison with experiments in bulk solution. It is shown that DON digestion is strongly dependentoni ts superstructure and flexibility and on the local topology of the individual structure.The rapidly evolvingf ield of DNA nanotechnology enables custom fabrication of various nanoscale shapes with unprecedented addressability; [1] these have found some fascinating implementations in materials science and especiallyi nm any biochemicala nd biophysical systems. [2][3][4][5] In recenty ears, programmable DNA origami nanostructures (DONs) [6][7][8][9][10] have been considered promising candidates for the development of tailored and multifunctional drug-delivery vehicles. [11][12][13][14] For therapeutic in vivo applications, the DON vehicles should preferably be compatible with the immunes ystem, resistant to nucleases, have as ufficiently long circulation half-life, and be able to maintain their shape at the ionic strengths of the biological fluids. [15] However,c oncerns have been raised regarding the stabilityo fD ONs and their performance in biological media. [16, 17] Although it has been shown that DONs can survive under low-cation conditions, [18,19] stability studies performedi n serum or cell culture media have yielded somewhat controversial and quite distinct results. [8,15,[19][20][21] Therefore, significant efforts have been madei nto coating ands tabilizing DONs under biologically relevant conditions. [17,[22][23][24][25] Herein, we study DON digestion by endonucleases (DNase I) in dependence of DON superstructure. DNase Ii sw idely present in serum and varioust issues,w hich makes it one of the most relevantt hreatst ot he stability of DONs in vivo. Previously,D ON cleavage by endonucleases was studied by employing ratherl ong timescales. [8,16] Therefore, thesea pproaches can only resolve the time points at which the whole or most of the nanostructure has been digested. Moreover,t hese experiments could neither reveals patial variations of DNase Is usceptibility within as ingle DON, nor facilitate parallel comparison of different structures under the same conditions. Herein, we thus employ high-speed atomicf orce microscopy (HS-AFM) [26] to study the degradation of four well-established and structurally disti...

DNA origami has become a widely used method for synthesizing well-defined nanostructures with promising applications in various areas of nanotechnology, biophysics, and medicine. Recently, the possibility to transfer the shape of single DNA origami nanostructures into different materials via molecular lithography approaches has received growing interest due to the great structural control provided by the DNA origami technique. Here, we use ordered monolayers of DNA origami nanostructures with internal cavities on mica surfaces as molecular lithography masks for the fabrication of regular protein patterns over large surface areas. Exposure of the masked sample surface to negatively charged proteins results in the directed adsorption of the proteins onto the exposed surface areas in the holes of the mask. By controlling the buffer and adsorption conditions, the protein coverage of the exposed areas can be varied from single proteins to densely packed monolayers. To demonstrate the versatility of this approach, regular nanopatterns of four different proteins are fabricated: the single-strand annealing proteins Redβ and Sak, the iron-storage protein ferritin, and the blood protein bovine serum albumin (BSA). We furthermore demonstrate the desorption of the DNA origami mask after directed protein adsorption, which may enable the fabrication of hierarchical patterns composed of different protein species. Because selectivity in adsorption is achieved by electrostatic interactions between the proteins and the exposed surface areas, this approach may enable also the large-scale patterning of other charged molecular species or even nanoparticles.

The self-organized formation of regular patterns is not only a fascinating topic encountered in a multitude of natural and artificial systems, but also presents a versatile and powerful route toward large-scale nanostructure assembly and materials synthesis. The hierarchical, interface-assisted assembly of DNA origami nanostructures into regular, 2D lattices represents a particularly promising example, as the resulting lattices may exhibit an astonishing degree of order and can be further utilized as masks in molecular lithography. Here, we thus investigate the development of order in such 2D DNA origami lattices assembled on mica surfaces by employing in situ high-speed atomic force microscopy imaging. DNA origami lattice formation is found to resemble thin-film growth in several aspects. In particular, the Na+/Mg2+ ratio controls DNA origami adsorption, surface diffusion, and desorption, and is thus equivalent in its effects to substrate temperature which controls adatom dynamics in thin-film deposition. Consequently, we observe a pronounced dependence of lattice order on Na+ concentration. At low Na+ concentrations, lattice formation resembles random deposition and results in unordered monolayers, whereas very high Na+ concentrations are accompanied by rapid diffusion and especially DNA origami desorption, which prevent lattice formation. At intermediate Na+ concentrations, highly ordered DNA origami lattices are obtained that display an intricate symmetry, stemming from the complex shape of the employed Rothemund triangle. Nevertheless, even under such optimized conditions, the lattices display a considerable number of defects, including grain boundaries, point and line defects, and screw-like dislocations. By monitoring the dynamics of selected lattice defects, we identify mechanisms that limit the obtainable degree of lattice order. Possible routes toward further increasing lattice order by postassembly annealing are discussed.

DNA origami nanostructures are regarded as powerful and versatile vehicles for targeted drug delivery. So far, DNA origami-based drug delivery strategies mostly use intercalation of the therapeutic molecules between the base pairs of the DNA origami’s double helices for drug loading. The binding of nonintercalating drugs to DNA origami nanostructures, however, is less studied. Therefore, in this work, we investigate the interaction of the drug methylene blue (MB) with different DNA origami nanostructures under conditions that result in minor groove binding. We observe a noticeable effect of DNA origami superstructure on the binding affinity of MB. In particular, non-B topologies as for instance found in designs using the square lattice with 10.67 bp/turn may result in reduced binding affinity because groove binding efficiency depends on groove dimensions. Also, mechanically flexible DNA origami shapes that are prone to structural fluctuations may exhibit reduced groove binding, even though they are based on the honeycomb lattice with 10.5 bp/turn. This can be attributed to the induction of transient over- and underwound DNA topologies by thermal fluctuations. These issues should thus be considered when designing DNA origami nanostructures for drug delivery applications that employ groove-binding drugs.

Single strand annealing proteins (SSAPs) like Redβ initiate homologous recombination by annealing complementary DNA strands. We show that C-terminally truncated Redβ, whilst still able to promote annealing and nucleoprotein filament formation, is unable to mediate homologous recombination. Mutations of the C-terminal domain were evaluated using both single- and double stranded (ss and ds) substrates in recombination assays. Mutations of critical amino acids affected either dsDNA recombination or both ssDNA and dsDNA recombination indicating two separable functions, one of which is critical for dsDNA recombination and the second for recombination per se. As evaluated by co-immunoprecipitation experiments, the dsDNA recombination function relates to the Redα-Redβ protein-protein interaction, which requires not only contacts in the C-terminal domain but also a region near the N-terminus. Because the nucleoprotein filament formed with C-terminally truncated Redβ has altered properties, the second C-terminal function could be due to an interaction required for functional filaments. Alternatively the second C-terminal function could indicate a requirement for a Redβ-host factor interaction. These data further advance the model for Red recombination and the proposition that Redβ and RAD52 SSAPs share ancestral and mechanistic roots.