Rapid Folding of DNA into Nanoscale Shapes at Constant Temperature
News from Physics Department: 2012-12-14
Scientists at the Physics Department demonstrate that, at constant temperature, hundreds of DNA strands can cooperatively fold a long template DNA strand within minutes into complex nanoscale objects. Folding occurred out of equilibrium along nucleation-driven pathways at temperatures that could be influenced by the choice of sequences, strand lengths, and chain topology. Unfolding occurred in apparent equilibrium at higher temperatures than those for folding. Folding at optimized constant temperatures enabled the rapid production of three-dimensional DNA objects with yields that approached 100%. The results point to similarities with protein folding in spite of chemical and structural differences. The possibility for rapid and high-yield assembly will enable DNA nanotechnology for practical applications.
Press release at TUM’s pages
Continue reading the full press release at TUM’s pages.
Publication
Rapid Folding of DNA into Nanoscale Shapes at Constant Temperature
Jean-Philippe J. Sobczak, Thomas G. Martin, Thomas Gerling, Hendrik Dietz
Science 14 December 2012: Vol. 338 no. 6113 pp. 1458-1461, DOI: 10.1126/science.1229919
Contact
- Prof. Hendrik Dietz
- Technische Universität München Physics Dept., Walter Schottky Institute / ZNN Am Coulombwall 4a 85748 Garching, Germany Tel: +49 89 289 11615 E-mail: dietz@tum.de Web: http://bionano.physik.tu-muenchen.de/
Editor: Dr. Johannes Wiedersich