Figure 5

Immobilization of DNA strand displacement reaction network in semi-permeable microcapsules and implementation of a two-layer signalling cascade. (A) Schematic representation of the two-layer signalling cascade as developed by Joesaar et al.⁶ (B) Implementation of the two-layer signalling cascade in poly-PEG-DA 258 capsules. The two capsule populations were mixed together and imaged on a cell-counting slide immediately after addition of 50 nM input strand (A). An increase in Cy5 and Cy3 fluorescent signals was observed corresponding to the activation of the first and second populations, respectively. (C) Median intensity of detected particles. An increase in the Cy5 signal was observed corresponding to the activated first population of capsules. After release and diffusion of the signal strand (\(Q_1\)) to the second capsule population, an increase in Cy3 signal was observed corresponding to their subsequent activation. The larger symbols correspond to the median of all detected particles in a given fluorescent channel.