posted on 2017-01-26, 00:00authored byAlexander
Mario Maier, Wooli Bae, Daniel Schiffels, Johannes Friedrich Emmerig, Maximilian Schiff, Tim Liedl
Multihelical
DNA bundles could enhance the functionality of nanomaterials
and serve as model architectures to mimic protein filaments on the
molecular and cellular level. We report the self-assembly of micrometer-sized
helical DNA nanotubes with widely controllable helical diameters ranging
from tens of nanometers to a few micrometers. Nanoscale helical shapes
of DNA tile tubes (4-, 6-, 8-, 10-, and 12-helix tile tubes) are achieved
by introducing discrete amounts of bending and twist through base
pair insertions and/or deletions. Microscale helical diameters, which
require smaller amounts of twist and bending, are achieved by controlling
the intrinsic “supertwist” present in tile tubes with
uneven number of helices (11-, 13-, and 15-helix tile tubes). Supertwist
fine-tuning also allows us to produce helical nanotubes of defined
chirality.