Bottom‐Up Assembly of DNA–Silica Nanocomposites into Micrometer‐Sized Hollow Spheres

Abstract

Although DNA nanotechnology has developed into a highly innovative and lively field of research at the interface between chemistry, materials science, and biotechnology, there is still a great need for methodological approaches for bridging the size regime of DNA nanostructures with that of micrometer‐ and millimeter‐sized units for practical applications. We report on novel hierarchically structured composite materials from silica nanoparticles and DNA polymers that can be obtained by self‐assembly through the clamped hybridization chain reaction. The nanocomposite materials can be assembled into thin layers within microfluidically generated water‐in‐oil droplets to produce mechanically stabilized hollow spheres with uniform size distributions at high throughput rates. The fact that cells can be encapsulated in these microcontainers suggests that our concept not only contributes to the further development of supramolecular bottom‐up manufacturing, but can also be exploited for applications in the life sciences.

Biointerface Engineering with Nucleic Acid Materials for Biosensing Applications

“…For a typical covalent conjugation, thiol‐, amine‐ or carboxyl‐modified DNAs are often employed on nanoparticle surfaces containing functional moieties (e.g., thiol, maleimide, amine, and carboxyl groups) through well‐established sulfhydryl‐maleimide coupling chemistry [ 57 ] or 1‐ethyl‐3‐(3‐(dimethylamino)propyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC)/N‐hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) coupling (i.e., amide coupling reaction), [ 58 ] glutardialdehyde crosslinking. [ 59 ] Although it is a versatile strategy for nucleic acid‐based nanosurface engineering and the resulting DNA‐nanomaterial complexes are stable, the engineered nanomaterials require functionalization with specific groups prior to conjugation with their corresponding modified DNA. Additionally, the conjugation process is often time‐consuming, and the efficiency may be low for some covalent methods.…”