Structural highlights
Publication Abstract from PubMed
The diversity of DNA duplex structures is limited by a binary pair of hydrogen-bonded motifs. Here we show that poly(thymine) self-associates into antiparallel, right-handed duplexes in the presence of melamine, a small molecule that presents a triplicate set of the hydrogen-bonding face of adenine. X-ray crystallography shows that in the complex two poly(thymine) strands wrap around a helical column of melamine, which hydrogen bonds to thymine residues on two of its three faces. The mechanical strength of the thymine-melamine-thymine triplet surpasses that of adenine-thymine base pairs, which enables a sensitive detection of melamine at 3 pM. The poly(thymine)-melamine duplex is orthogonal to native DNA base pairing and can undergo strand displacement without the need for overhangs. Its incorporation into two-dimensional grids and hybrid DNA-small-molecule polymers highlights the poly(thymine)-melamine duplex as an additional tool for DNA nanotechnology.
A poly(thymine)-melamine duplex for the assembly of DNA nanomaterials.,Li Q, Zhao J, Liu L, Jonchhe S, Rizzuto FJ, Mandal S, He H, Wei S, Sleiman HF, Mao H, Mao C Nat Mater. 2020 Jul 13. pii: 10.1038/s41563-020-0728-2. doi:, 10.1038/s41563-020-0728-2. PMID:32661383[1]
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
References
- ↑ Li Q, Zhao J, Liu L, Jonchhe S, Rizzuto FJ, Mandal S, He H, Wei S, Sleiman HF, Mao H, Mao C. A poly(thymine)-melamine duplex for the assembly of DNA nanomaterials. Nat Mater. 2020 Jul 13. pii: 10.1038/s41563-020-0728-2. doi:, 10.1038/s41563-020-0728-2. PMID:32661383 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41563-020-0728-2
