posted on 2024-02-02, 06:15authored byYongjun Liu, Bochen Li, Fei Wang, Qian Li, Sisi Jia, Xiaoguo Liu, Mingqiang Li
Nanostructures with controlled shapes
are of particular interest
due to their consistent physical and chemical properties and their
potential for assembly into complex superstructures. The use of supporting
struts has proven to be effective in the construction of precise DNA
polyhedra. However, the influence of struts on the structure of DNA
origami frameworks on the nanoscale remains unclear. In this study,
we developed a flexible square DNA origami (SDO) framework and enhanced
its structural stability by incorporating interarm supporting struts
(SDO-s). Comparing the framework with and without such struts, we
found that SDO-s demonstrated a significantly improved resistance
to deformation. We assessed the deformability of these two DNA origami
structures through the statistical analysis of interior angles of
polygons based on atomic force microscopy and transmission electron
microscopy data. Our results showed that SDO-s exhibited more centralized
interior angle distributions compared to SDO, reducing from 30–150°
to 60–120°. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulations
indicated that supporting struts significantly decreased the thermodynamic
fluctuations of the SDO-s, as described by the root-mean-square fluctuation
parameter. Finally, we experimentally demonstrated that the 2D arrays
assembled from SDO-s exhibited significantly higher quality than those
assembled from SDO. These quantitative analyses provide an understanding
of how supporting struts can enhance the structural integrity of DNA
origami frameworks.