Branched kissing loops for the construction of diverse RNA homooligomeric nanostructures

TY - JOUR

T1 - Branched kissing loops for the construction of diverse RNA homooligomeric nanostructures

AU - Liu, Di

AU - Geary, Cody W

AU - Chen, Gang

AU - Shao, Yaming

AU - Li, Mo

AU - Mao, Chengde

AU - Andersen, Ebbe S

AU - Piccirilli, Joseph A

AU - Rothemund, Paul W K

AU - Weizmann, Yossi

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - In biological systems, large and complex structures are often assembled from multiple simpler identical subunits. This strategy-homooligomerization-allows efficient genetic encoding of structures and avoids the need to control the stoichiometry of multiple distinct units. It also allows the minimal number of distinct subunits when designing artificial nucleic acid structures. Here, we present a robust self-assembly system in which homooligomerizable tiles are formed from intramolecularly folded RNA single strands. Tiles are linked through an artificially designed branched kissing-loop motif, involving Watson-Crick base pairing between the single-stranded regions of a bulged helix and a hairpin loop. By adjusting the tile geometry to gain control over the curvature, torsion and the number of helices, we have constructed 16 different linear and circular structures, including a finite-sized three-dimensional cage. We further demonstrate cotranscriptional self-assembly of tiles based on branched kissing loops, and show that tiles inserted into a transfer RNA scaffold can be overexpressed in bacterial cells.

AB - In biological systems, large and complex structures are often assembled from multiple simpler identical subunits. This strategy-homooligomerization-allows efficient genetic encoding of structures and avoids the need to control the stoichiometry of multiple distinct units. It also allows the minimal number of distinct subunits when designing artificial nucleic acid structures. Here, we present a robust self-assembly system in which homooligomerizable tiles are formed from intramolecularly folded RNA single strands. Tiles are linked through an artificially designed branched kissing-loop motif, involving Watson-Crick base pairing between the single-stranded regions of a bulged helix and a hairpin loop. By adjusting the tile geometry to gain control over the curvature, torsion and the number of helices, we have constructed 16 different linear and circular structures, including a finite-sized three-dimensional cage. We further demonstrate cotranscriptional self-assembly of tiles based on branched kissing loops, and show that tiles inserted into a transfer RNA scaffold can be overexpressed in bacterial cells.

KW - COMPLEX

KW - CRYSTAL-STRUCTURE

KW - DESIGN

KW - DNA ORIGAMI

KW - EMERGING FIELD

KW - METAL-IONS

KW - NMR SOLUTION STRUCTURE

KW - POTENTIAL PARTS

KW - RECOMBINANT RNA

KW - TRANSCRIPTION

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85078290650&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s41557-019-0406-7

DO - 10.1038/s41557-019-0406-7

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31959958

SN - 1755-4330

VL - 12

SP - 249

EP - 259

JO - Nature Chemistry

JF - Nature Chemistry

IS - 3

ER -