Advances in DNA Origami–Cell Interfaces

Abstract

The nascent field of DNA nanotechnology has undergone rapid growth since its inception. By using DNA as a biologically “safe” material, DNA nanotechnology shows great promise in applications such as drug‐delivery systems. Further progress, however, relies on understanding the different ways in which DNA nanostructures behave in and interact with cells, tissues and even whole organisms. Moreover, this knowledge must then be harnessed in innovative ways to improve existing DNA nanostructures and design new ones, so that they can perform more diverse functions more effectively. There have been many developments in this regard in the past few years, and herein some of these are highlighted, with respect to both works that improve our understanding of what happens to DNA nanostructures once they are at their target site, and those that utilise clever design to accomplish desired functions.

Programmed catalysis within stimuli-responsive mechanically unlocked nanocavities in DNA origami tiles

“…These results call for practical applications of nanocavity containing origami scaffolds, particularly in the area of “smart” nanomedicine. As the origami raft reveals intracellular permeation, 43 the tethering of ribozyme subunits on counter faces of the origami tiles and the design of biomarker-responsive locks are envisaged to yield “smart” functional therapeutic carriers. That is, the biomarker-induced unlocking of the cavities could assemble the active ribozyme in the nanocavity for gene manipulation.…”

Conformational Control of DNA Origami by DNA Oligomers, Intercalators and UV Light

“…Finally, it is also possible to build nanoscale actuators using dynamic DNA nanostructures. DNA shafts or rods are commonly constructed by many research groups [42,67,68]. The rods, when made stiff, would have a fixed number of helical turns from one terminal to the other.…”

Reversible membrane deformations by straight DNA origami filaments

“…The DNA origami folding method [40][41][42][43] takes advantage of the unique and inherent building properties of DNA molecules, and has proven to be an extremely versatile engineering tool, 44,45 especially when combined to model membranes. [46][47][48][49][50][51] Seminal studies recently granted us better overview on how to efficiently attach cholesteryl-modified DNA origami to membranes 52,53 and investigate diffusion. [54][55][56][57] Membrane-interacting DNA origami [58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65] and DNA tiles 66,67 can moreover physically actuate on and deform lipid bilayers, as for instance demonstrated in our earlier work.…”