Design and Characterization of RNA Nanotubes
Abstract
RNA is a functionally rich and diverse biomaterial responsible for regulating several cellular processes. This functionality has been harnessed to build predominately small nanoscale structures for drug delivery and the treatment of disease. The understanding of design principles to build large RNA structures will allow for further control of stoichiometry and spatial arrangement drugs and ligands. We present the design and characterization of RNA nanotubes that self-assemble from programmable monomers, or tiles, formed by five distinct RNA strands. Tiles include double crossover junctions and assemble via single-stranded sticky-end domains. We find that nanotube formation is dependent on the intertile crossover distance. The average length observed for the annealed RNA nanotubes is ≈1.5 μm, with many nanotubes exceeding 10 μm, enabling the characterization of RNA nanotubes length distribution via fluorescence microscopy. Assembled tubes were observed to be stable for more than 24 h, however post-annealing growth under isothermal conditions does not occur. Nanotubes assemble also from RNA tiles modified to include a single-stranded overhang (toehold), suggesting that it may be possible to decorate these large RNA scaffolds with nanoparticles or other nucleic acid molecules.
Additional Information
© 2019 American Chemical Society. Received 12 December 2018. Date accepted 9 April 2019. Published online 22 April 2019. The authors thank Paul W. K. Rothemund for useful discussions and advise. This work was supported by a U.S. National Science Foundation CAREER grant to E.F. [DMR- 1450747]. The authors declare no competing financial interest.Attached Files
Supplemental Material - nn8b09421_si_001.pdf
In Press - acsnano.8b09421
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 94832
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20190422-091140594
- DMR-1450747
- NSF
- Created
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2019-04-22Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-16Created from EPrint's last_modified field