title: Versatile RNA tetra-U helix linking motif as a toolkit for nucleic acid nanotechnology.
abstract: RNA nanotechnology employs synthetically modified ribonucleic acid (RNA) to engineer highly stable nanostructures in one, two, and three dimensions for medical applications. Despite the tremendous advantages in RNA nanotechnology, unmodified RNA itself is fragile and prone to enzymatic degradation. In contrast to use traditionally modified RNA strands e.g. 2'-fluorine, 2'-amine, 2'-methyl, we studied the effect of RNA/DNA hybrid approach utilizing a computer-assisted RNA tetra-uracil (tetra-U) motif as a toolkit to address questions related to assembly efficiency, versatility, stability, and the production costs of hybrid RNA/DNA nanoparticles. The tetra-U RNA motif was implemented to construct four functional triangles using RNA, DNA and RNA/DNA mixtures, resulting in fine-tunable enzymatic and thermodynamic stabilities, immunostimulatory activity and RNAi capability. Moreover, the tetra-U toolkit has great potential in the fabrication of rectangular, pentagonal, and hexagonal NPs, representing the power of simplicity of RNA/DNA approach for RNA nanotechnology and nanomedicine community.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USA.
authors.forename: My N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Bui
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brittany Johnson
authors.affiliation: Basic Science Program, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc., RNA Biology Laboratory, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Mathias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Viard
authors.affiliation: Nanoscale Science Program, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, The Center for Biomedical Engineering and Science, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Satterwhite
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Angelica N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USA.
authors.forename: Zhihai
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Marriott
authors.affiliation: Nanoscale Science Program, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, The Center for Biomedical Engineering and Science, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA.
authors.forename: Kirill A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Afonin
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USA. Electronic address: kemil@bsu.edu.
authors.forename: Emil F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Khisamutdinov
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D034622:RNA Interference; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000008:administration & dosage; D014498:Uracil / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D014498:Uracil; D012313:RNA; D004247:DNA
keywords: Hybrid nanoparticles; Nucleic acid bionanotechnology; RNA 3D motifs; RNA nanotechnology