title: Studies of thermal stability of multivalent DNA hybridization in a nanostructured system.
abstract: A fundamental understanding of molecular self-assembly processes is important for improving the design and construction of higher-order supramolecular structures. DNA tile based self-assembly has recently been used to generate periodic and aperiodic nanostructures of different geometries, but there have been very few studies that focus on the thermodynamic properties of the inter-tile interactions. Here we demonstrate that fluorescently-labeled multihelical DNA tiles can be used as a model platform to systematically investigate multivalent DNA hybridization. Real-time monitoring of DNA tile assembly using fluorescence resonance energy transfer revealed that both the number and the relative position of DNA sticky-ends play a significant role in the stability of the final assembly. As multivalent interactions are important factors in nature's delicate macromolecular systems, our quantitative analysis of the stability and cooperativity of a network of DNA sticky-end associations could lead to greater control over hierarchical nanostructure formation and algorithmic self-assembly.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA.
authors.forename: Jeanette
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nangreave
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D019281:Dimerization; D019277:Entropy; D031541:Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D044366:Transition Temperature
chemical_list: D004247:DNA