Chiral Systems Made from DNA

• Published in: Advanced science Vol. 8; no. 5; pp. 2003113 - n/a
• Main Authors: Winogradoff, David, Li, Pin‐Yi, Joshi, Himanshu, Quednau, Lauren, Maffeo, Christopher, Aksimentiev, Aleksei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.03.2021; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: Amino acids; Asymmetry; Copyright; DNA origami; Experiments; Genomes; liquid crystals; nanotechnology; plasmonics; Progress Report; Proteins; RNA polymerase; self‐assembly; Simulation; Symmetry; nanotechnology; DNA origami; liquid crystals; plasmonics; self‐assembly
• ISSN: 2198-3844; 2198-3844
• DOI: 10.1002/advs.202003113

The very chemical structure of DNA that enables biological heredity and evolution has non‐trivial implications for the self‐organization of DNA molecules into larger assemblies and provides limitless opportunities for building functional nanostructures. This progress report discusses the natural organization of DNA into chiral structures and recent advances in creating synthetic chiral systems using DNA as a building material. How nucleic acid chirality naturally comes into play in a diverse array of situations is considered first, at length scales ranging from an individual nucleotide to entire chromosomes. Thereafter, chiral liquid crystal phases formed by dense DNA mixtures are discussed, including the ongoing efforts to understand their origins. The report then summarizes recent efforts directed toward building chiral structures, and other structures of complex topology, using the principle of DNA self‐assembly. Discussed last are existing and proposed functional man‐made nanostructures designed to either probe or harness DNA's chirality, from plasmonics and spintronics to biosensing. This progress report discusses the natural organization of DNA into chiral structures and recent advances in creating synthetic chiral systems using DNA as a building material. The topics covered include chirality of biological DNA systems at all scales, liquid crystal phases of dense DNA solutions, programmable chirality in self‐assembled DNA nanostructures, and DNA‐based plasmonic and spintronic systems.