Self-Assembly of Frayed Wires and Frayed-Wire Networks:  Nanoconstruction with Multistranded DNA

• Published in: Nano letters Vol. 2; no. 4; pp. 269 - 274
• Main Authors: Batalia, Michael A, Protozanova, Ekaterina, Macgregor, Robert B, Erie, Dorothy A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 01.04.2002
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/nl015672h

New types of self-assembled 2-D and 3-D DNA networks are presented and characterized using scanning force microscopy. The building blocks of these networks are guanine-rich DNA sequences, d(A15G15) and biotinylated-d(A15G15). These sequences self-assemble into high molecular weight structures, frayed wires, that are composed of a multistranded guanine core with single-stranded adenosine tracts emanating from the core at ∼6 nm intervals. Avidin peroxidase was attached to the biotinylated frayed wires with retention of activity, demonstrating that these structures can be used as scaffolds to support multiple copies of non-DNA molecules. Finally, the frayed wires were linked together with CT15 or T15 to form large 2- and 3-dimensional networks.