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Multifunctional nanoarchitectures from DNA-based ABC monomers

Nature Nanotechnology volume 4, pages 430–436 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

The ability to attach different functional moieties to a molecular building block1,2 could lead to applications in nanoelectronics3, nanophotonics4, intelligent sensing5 and drug delivery6,7. The building unit needs to be both multivalent and anisotropic, and although many anisotropic building blocks have been created1,8,9,10,11,12, these have not been universally applicable. Recently, DNA has been used to generate various nanostructures13,14,15,16,17 or hybrid systems18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25, and as a generic building block for various applications26,27,28,29,30. Here, we report the creation of anisotropic, branched and crosslinkable building blocks (ABC monomers) from which multifunctional nanoarchitectures have been assembled. In particular, we demonstrate a target-driven polymerization process in which polymers are generated only in the presence of a specific DNA molecule, leading to highly sensitive pathogen detection. Using this monomer system, we have also designed a biocompatible nanovector that delivers both drugs and tracers simultaneously. Our approach provides a general yet versatile route towards the creation of a range of multifunctional nanoarchitectures.

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Figure 1: Schematic of the assembly of an ABC monomer and target-driven photo-polymerization.
Figure 2: ABC monomers with precisely positioned fluorescence dyes and nanoparticles.
Figure 3: Photo-polymerization and characterization of ABC monomers.
Figure 4: Detection of pathogen DNA by means of target-driven polymerization of ABC monomers.
Figure 5: Microscopic images of a HeLa cell treated with polymeric spheres at 37 °C overnight and cytotoxicity studies.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Research Initiatives (NRI) and the US National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award and performed in part at the Nanobiotechnology Center and Cornell Center for Material Research, which are supported by the NSF, Cornell University and industrial affiliates. We thank E. J. Rice, J. C. March, J. S. Kahn, S. Tan and M. Campolongo for proofreading this manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Soong Ho Um

    Present address: Present address: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, 14850, New York, USA

    Jong B. Lee, Young H. Roh, Soong Ho Um, Hisakage Funabashi, Wenlong Cheng, Pichamon Kiatwuthinon & Dan Luo

  2. Department of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, 14850, New York, USA

    Judy J. Cha & David A. Muller

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  1. Jong B. Lee
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Contributions

J.B.L., Y.H.R. and D.L. conceived and designed the experiments. J.B.L., Y.H.R. and H.F. performed the experiments. J.B.L., Y.H.R., H.F. and D.L. analysed the data. J.B.L., Y.H.R., S.H.U., W.C., P.K., J.J.C. and D.A.M. contributed materials and analysis tools. J.B.L., Y.H.R. and D.L. co-wrote the paper. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Dan Luo.

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Lee, J., Roh, Y., Um, S. et al. Multifunctional nanoarchitectures from DNA-based ABC monomers. Nature Nanotech 4, 430–436 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2009.93

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