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DNA origami design of dolphin-shaped structures with flexible tails

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  • Department of Physics and Astronomy
  • Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center
  • Department of Chemistry
  • Department of Molecular Biology
The DNA origami method allows the folding of long, single-stranded DNA sequences into arbitrary two-dimensional structures by a set of designed oligonucleotides. The method has revealed an unexpected strength and efficiency for programmed self-assembly of molecular nanostructures and makes it possible to produce fully addressable nanostructures with wide-reaching application potential within the emerging area of nanoscience. Here we present a user-friendly software package for designing DNA origami structures ( http://www.cdna.dk/origami ) and demonstrate its use by the design of a dolphin-like DNA origami structure that was imaged by high-resolution AFM in liquid. The software package provides automatic generation of DNA origami structures, manual editing, interactive overviews, atomic models, tracks the design history, and has a fully extendable toolbox. From the AFM images, it was demonstrated that different designs of the dolphin tail region provided various levels of flexibility in a predictable fashion. Finally, we show that the addition of specific attachment sites promotes dimerization between two independently self-assembled dolphin structures, and that these interactions stabilize the flexible tail.
Original languageEnglish
JournalA C S Nano
Volume2
Issue6
Pages (from-to)1213-8
Number of pages5
ISSN1936-0851
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2008

    Research areas

  • Computer Simulation, Computer-Aided Design, DNA, Macromolecular Substances, Models, Chemical, Models, Molecular, Molecular Conformation, Nanostructures, Nanotechnology, Particle Size, Software, Surface Properties

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