Failure mechanisms in DNA self-assembly: Barriers to single fold yield

Published

February 23, 2021

Author(s)

Jacob Majikes, Paul Patrone, Anthony J. Kearsley, Michael P. Zwolak, James Liddle

Abstract

Understanding the folding process of DNA origami is a critical steppingstone to the broader implementation of nucleic acid nanofabrication technology but is notably non-trivial. Origami are formed by several hundred cooperative hybridization events – folds – between spatially separate domains of a scaffold, derived from a viral genome, and oligomeric staples, each of which is difficult to detect independently. Here, we present a real-time probe of the unit operation of origami assembly, a single fold across the scaffold as a function of hybridization domain separation – fold distance – and staple:scaffold ratio. This novel approach to the folding problem elucidates a previously unobserved blocked state that acts as a limit on yield for single folds, and which may manifest as a barrier in whole origami assembly.

Citation

ACS Nano

Volume

15

Issue

2

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.0c10114

Local Download

Keywords

DNA origami, nanofabrication

Citation

Majikes, J. , Patrone, P. , , A. , Zwolak, M. and Liddle, J. (2021), Failure mechanisms in DNA self-assembly: Barriers to single fold yield, ACS Nano, [online], https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.0c10114 , https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=930700 (Accessed October 11, 2025)