DNA纳米自组装的研究进展及应用

DNA纳米技术是一种自下而上的分子自组装模式,由分子构造为起点基于核酸分子的物理和化学性质自发地形成稳定结构,遵循严格的核酸碱基配对原则,使得DNA被用作构建结构的材料基元而不是在活细胞中那样作为遗传信息的载体.通过合理地设计碱基链来达成精密控制的纳米级复杂结构的目的,研究人员在这个领域已经建立起诸多二维、三维的复杂纳米结构以及各种具有不同功能的分子机器,比如DNA计算机.本文总结了近年来DNA纳米自组装方面取得的最新进展,同时介绍DNA纳米自组装的几种不同组装方法,并对其相关应用进行了展望.

Research progress and applications of self-assembled DNA nanostructures

DNA nanotechnology is an example of bottom-up molecular self-assembly, in which molecular components spontaneously organize into stable structures; the particular form of these structures is induced by the physical and chemical properties of the components selected by the designers. In this field, nucleic acids are used as non-biological engineering materials for nanotechnology rather than as the carriers of genetic information in living cells. This use is enabled by the strict base pairing rules of nucleic acids, which cause only portions of strands with complementary base sequences to bind together to form strong, rigid double helix structures. This allows for the rational design of base sequences that will selectively assemble to form complex target structures with precisely controlled nanoscale features. This article mainly reviews the developments of DNA self-assembly achieved recently and also introduces the design methods of it, which would be helpful and enlightened for our future research.