LEGO-like DNA Structures

摘要

Parallels are often drawn between the construction of molecular structures and building toy models in LEGO bricks. This analogy is particularly suitable for the method reported by Ke et al. on page 1177 of this issue (1). The authors describe the construction of arbitrary and discrete three-dimensional (3D) DNA structures by self-assembly of single-stranded DNA "bricks." The method opens a new route to complex self-assembled (3D) nanostruc-tures that may serve as addressable templates for placing guest molecules with high precision, with possible applications in biophysics, medicine, and nanoelectronics.