posted on 2023-03-23, 15:09authored byMarco Lolaico, Sebbe Blokhuizen, Boxuan Shen, Yang Wang, Björn Högberg
In recent years, interest in wireframe DNA origami has
increased,
with different designs, software, and applications emerging at a fast
pace. It is now possible to design a wide variety of shapes by starting
with a 2D or 3D mesh and using different scaffold routing strategies.
The design choices of the edges in wireframe structures can be important
in some applications and have already been shown to influence the
interactions between nanostructures and cells. In this work, we increase
the alternatives for the design of A-trail routed wireframe DNA structures
by using four-helix bundles (4HB). Our approach is based on the incorporation
of additional helices to the edges of the wireframe structure to create
a 4HB on a square lattice. We first developed the software for the
design of these structures, followed by a demonstration of the successful
design and folding of a library of structures, and then, finally,
we investigated the higher mechanical rigidity of the reinforced structures.
In addition, the routing of the scaffold allows us to easily incorporate
these reinforced edges together with more flexible, single helix edges,
thereby allowing the user to customize the desired stiffness of the
structure. We demonstrated the successful folding of this type of
hybrid structure and the different stiffnesses of the different parts
of the nanostructures using a combination of computational and experimental
techniques.