title: Controlling Hybridization Chain Reactions with pH.
abstract: By taking inspiration from nature, where self-organization of biomolecular species into complex systems is finely controlled through different stimuli, we propose here a rational approach by which the assembly and disassembly of DNA-based concatemers can be controlled through pH changes. To do so we used the hybridization chain reaction (HCR), a process that, upon the addition of an initiator strand, allows to create DNA-based concatemers in a controlled fashion. We re-engineered the functional units of HCR through the addition of pH-dependent clamp-like triplex-forming domains that can either inhibit or activate the polymerization reaction at different pHs. This allows to finely regulate the HCR-induced assembly and disassembly of DNA concatemers at either basic or acidic pHs in a reversible way. The strategies we present here appear particularly promising as novel tools to achieve better spatiotemporal control of self-assembly processes of DNA-based nanostructures.
authors.affiliation: †Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche, University of Rome, Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Idili
authors.affiliation: †Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche, University of Rome, Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Porchetta
authors.affiliation: †Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche, University of Rome, Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.|‡PhD School of Nanotechnology, Department of Physics, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amodio
authors.affiliation: §Laboratory of Biosensors and Nanomachines, Département de Chimie, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Alexis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vallée-Bélisle
authors.affiliation: †Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche, University of Rome, Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ricci
keywords: DNA nanostructures; DNA nanotechnology; hybridization chain reaction; pH; self-assembly