Small molecule-induced DNA hydrogel with encapsulation and release properties

Abstract

<p>Small molecule cyanuric acid is used to assemble a novel DNA hydrogel which is programmed to encapsulate and release a variety of compounds including drug molecules.</p>

Noncovalent Helicene Structure between Nucleic Acids and Cyanuric Acid

“…Our MD simulations show that heterocycles, such as CA, are versatile units for controlling the conformation of DNA and for engineering novel DNA structures. [27][28][29][30][31] The noncovalent helicene geometry revealed here is ar emarkable analog of the helicene compounds,w hich possess interesting optical and catalytic properties. [34][35][36][37] The synthesis and chiral purification of covalent helicenes are challenging [51,52] and the longest reported helicenes to date consist of fewer than 20 rings.…”

“…[23][24][25] With the growing interest in DNA nanotechnology, [26] structural engineering of DNA increasingly leverages hydrogenbondingi nteractions between heterocycles and nucleic acid strandst od evelop novel DNA systems. [27][28][29][30][31] In particular,S leiman and co-workersr eported the self-assemblyb etween poly-(adenine), poly(A), and CA into micron-length fibers. [29] Based on the analogy with hexad systemsa nd the ability of adenine to form hydrogen bonds in both the Watson-Crick and Hoogsteen faces, they proposed thatt he DNA/RNA assemblies with CA adopt the hexameric rosette configuration (Figure 1b).…”

Smart Nucleic Acid Hydrogels with High Stimuli-Responsiveness in Biomedical Fields

“…He et al used cyanuric acid (CA) to assemble a Y-DNA containing poly A tail chain into hydrogels, and confirmed that the hydrogel was able to encapsulate fluorescent molecules, amycin, nanoparticle formulations, and so on. Over time, substances encapsulated in the drug can be gradually released, proving that the hydrogel can be used for the loading and slow release of the drug [88].…”

Light responsive nucleic acid for biomedical application

“…[5] Furthermore, nucleic acids have been used to design systems in response to specific stimuli. [4,6] Stimuli-responsive regulation of biomolecule-ligand complexes is a powerful tool for controlling biological functions, and it is also a potential source of new tools in biochemistry, nanotechnology, materials science, pharmacology, and medicine. [7] In the past few decades, stimuli-driven nanomaterials have attracted widespread attention and have played a pivotal role in many fields, including therapeutic diagnostics research, [8] biochemical sensing, [9] self-healing materials, [10] and energy study.…”

“…The highly predictable, specific binding and folding capabilities of nucleic acids make it possible to design complex two‐dimensional and three‐dimensional soft materials. [ 4 ] The molecules recognition characteristics and polymorphisms of nucleic acids make it an ideal scaffold for designing complex supramolecular structures, which can control their composition, structures, and functions. [ 5 ] Furthermore, nucleic acids have been used to design systems in response to specific stimuli.…”