Abstract:
DNA nanotechnology enables the construction of large self-assembled structures by DNA origami. Here, I present several applications of how DNA nanotech can create functionality on the nanoscale that might alternatively be realized by the construction of very complicated microscopes. We show more than 1000fold fluorescence enhancement by DNA origami nanoantennas that are used for attomolar single-molecule detection of nucleic acids on simple and portable microscopes (1, 2). The development of creating new functions with DNA nanotech goes along with our increasing abilities to study individual nano devices. To this end, I present recent advances in studying structural and dynamic features of DNA and its interaction with proteins with resolution in the Angstrom regime (3, 4). We developed the superresolution microscope pMINFLUX and combine it with graphene energy transfer to observe subtle bending of DNA, to reveal subpopulations in apparently simple DNA structures as well as to observe diffusion of DNA repair proteins along DNA with single nucleotide resolution (4, 5).
References
1. K. Trofymchuk et al., Gold Nanorod DNA Origami Antennas for 3 Orders of Magnitude Fluorescence Enhancement in NIR. ACS Nano 17, 1327-1334 (2023).
2. K. Trofymchuk et al., Addressable nanoantennas with cleared hotspots for single-molecule detection on a portable smartphone microscope. Nat Commun 12, 950 (2021).
3. F. Cole et al., Super-Resolved FRET and Co-Tracking in pMINFLUX. bioRxiv, 2023.2003.2024.534096 (2023).
4. A. M. Szalai et al., Real-Time Structural Biology of DNA and DNA-Protein Complexes on an Optical Microscope. bioRxiv, 2023.2011.2021.567962 (2023).
5. J. Zahringer et al., Combining pMINFLUX, graphene energy transfer and DNA-PAINT for nanometer precise 3D super-resolution microscopy. Light Sci Appl 12, 70 (2023).