title: Gold nanocrystals with DNA-directed morphologies.
abstract: Precise control over the structure of metal nanomaterials is important for developing advanced nanobiotechnology. Assembly methods of nanoparticles into structured blocks have been widely demonstrated recently. However, synthesis of nanocrystals with controlled, three-dimensional structures remains challenging. Here we show a directed crystallization of gold by a single DNA molecular regulator in a sequence-independent manner and its applications in three-dimensional topological controls of crystalline nanostructures. We anchor DNA onto gold nanoseed with various alignments to form gold nanocrystals with defined topologies. Some topologies are asymmetric including pushpin-, star- and biconcave disk-like structures, as well as more complex jellyfish- and flower-like structures. The approach of employing DNA enables the solution-based synthesis of nanocrystals with controlled, three-dimensional structures in a desired direction, and expands the current tools available for designing and synthesizing feature-rich nanomaterials for future translational biotechnology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical &Biological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 136713, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Xingyi
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9864-1698
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical &Biological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 136713, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: June
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huh
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical, Computer &Energy Engineering, Materials Science &Engineering Program, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
authors.forename: Wounjhang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Institute of Quantitative Biosciences &Biophysics, Departments of Bioengineering, Electrical Engineering &Computer Science, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Luke P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Chemical Engineering &Materials Science, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California 92697, USA.
authors.forename: Young Jik
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical &Biological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 136713, Republic of Korea.|Green School, Korea University, Seoul 136713, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sang Jun
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1045-0286
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Sim
mesh_terms: D003460:Crystallization; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D036103:Nanotechnology
chemical_list: D006046:Gold; D004247:DNA