Unmet Need
Molecular assemblies inside cells often undergo structural reconfiguration in response to stimuli to alter their function. Adaptive reconfiguration of cytoskeletal networks, for example, enables cellular shape change, movement, and cargo transport and plays a key role in driving complex processes such as division and differentiation. The cellular cytoskeleton is a self-assembling polymer network composed of simple filaments, so reconfiguration often occurs through the rearrangement of its component filaments’ connectivities. DNA nanotubes have emerged as promising building blocks for constructing programmable synthetic analogs of cytoskeletal networks. Nucleating seeds can control when and where nanotubes grow and capping structures can bind nanotube ends to stop growth. Such seeding and capping structure, collectively called termini, can organize nanotubes into larger architectures. However, these structures cannot be selectively activated or inactivated in response to specific stimuli to rearrange nanotube architectures, a key property of cytoskeletal networks. Therefore, there is a strong need for a technology that can selectively respond by activation or inactivation to rearrange nanotube structures.
Technology Overview
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have developed a novel technology capable of selective regulation of the binding affinity of DNA nanotube termini for DNA nanotube monomers or nanotube ends that can direct the reconfiguration of nanotube architectures. This invention can specifically activate or inactivate four orthogonal nanotube termini, allowing for reconfiguration by selective addition or removal of unique termini. Terminus activation could be a sensitive detector and amplifier of a DNA sequence signal. These results could enable the development of adaptive and multifunctional materials or new diagnostic tools.
Stage of Development
Experimental data is available.
Publication
Manuscript in preparation.
