title: Submicrometre geometrically encoded fluorescent barcodes self-assembled from DNA.
abstract: The identification and differentiation of a large number of distinct molecular species with high temporal and spatial resolution is a major challenge in biomedical science. Fluorescence microscopy is a powerful tool, but its multiplexing ability is limited by the number of spectrally distinguishable fluorophores. Here, we used (deoxy)ribonucleic acid (DNA)-origami technology to construct submicrometre nanorods that act as fluorescent barcodes. We demonstrate that spatial control over the positioning of fluorophores on the surface of a stiff DNA nanorod can produce 216 distinct barcodes that can be decoded unambiguously using epifluorescence or total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy. Barcodes with higher spatial information density were demonstrated via the construction of super-resolution barcodes with features spaced by ∼40 nm. One species of the barcodes was used to tag yeast surface receptors, which suggests their potential applications as in situ imaging probes for diverse biomolecular and cellular entities in their native environments.
authors.affiliation: Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Chenxiang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jungmann
authors.forename: Andrew M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Leifer
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Levner
authors.forename: George M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Church
authors.forename: William M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Shih
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yin
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry*; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D004247:DNA