Journal
JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR RECOGNITION
Volume 25, Issue 4, Pages 234-237Publisher
WILEY-BLACKWELL
DOI: 10.1002/jmr.2183
Keywords
self-assembled DNA crystals; DNA nanotechnology; crystal design; robust DNA motif
Categories
Funding
- National Institute of General Medical Science [1 R37 GM-29554]
- Office of Naval Research [N00014-09-1-1118, N00014-11-1-0729]
- Army Research Office [W911NF-07-1-0439, W911NF-11-1-0024]
- National Science Foundation [CCF-1117210, SNM-1120890, CCF-0622093]
- National Institutes of Health [1 R21 EB007472]
- Offices of Biological and Environmental Research and of Basic Energy Sciences of the US Department of Energy
- National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes of Health
- US Department of Energy, Office of Biological and Environmental Research [DE-AC02-06CH11357]
- Direct For Computer & Info Scie & Enginr
- Division of Computing and Communication Foundations [1117210] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Div Of Civil, Mechanical, & Manufact Inn
- Directorate For Engineering [1120890] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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DNA is a highly effective molecule for controlling nanometer-scale structure. The convenience of using DNA lies in the programmability of WatsonCrick base-paired secondary interactions, useful both to design branched molecular motifs and to connect them through sticky-ended cohesion. Recently, the tensegrity triangle motif has been used to self-assemble three-dimensional crystals whose structures have been determined; sticky ends were reported to be the only intermolecular cohesive elements in those crystals. A recent communication in this journal suggested that tertiary interactions between phosphates and cytosine N(4) groups are responsible for intermolecular cohesion in these crystals, in addition to the secondary and covalent interactions programmed into the motif. To resolve this issue, we report experiments challenging this contention. Gel electrophoresis demonstrates that the tensegrity triangle exists in conditions where cytosinePO4 tertiary interactions seem ineffective. Furthermore, we have crystallized a tensegrity triangle using a junction lacking the cytosine suggested for involvement in tertiary interactions. The unit cell is isomorphous with that of a tensegrity triangle crystal reported earlier. This structure has been solved by molecular replacement and refined. The data presented here leave no doubt that the tensegrity triangle crystal structures reported earlier depend only on base pairing and covalent interactions for their formation. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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