Abstract

Bottom-up fabrication of nanoscale structures relies on chemical processes to direct self-assembly. The complexity, precision, and yield achievable by a one-pot reaction are limited by our ability to encode assembly instructions into the molecules themselves. Nucleic acids provide a platform for investigating these issues, as molecular structure and intramolecular interactions can encode growth rules. Here, we use DNA tiles and DNA origami to grow crystals containing a cellular automaton pattern. In a one-pot annealing reaction, 250 DNA strands first assemble into a set of 10 free tile types and a seed structure, then the free tiles grow algorithmically from the seed according to the automaton rules. In our experiments, crystals grew to ∼300 nm long, containing ∼300 tiles with an initial assembly error rate of ∼1.4 % per tile. This work provides evidence that programmable molecular self-assembly may be sufficient to create a wide range of complex objects in one-pot reactions. The WatsonsCrick complementarity of DNA molecules allows one to design not only simple double-stranded helices but also complicated woven structures consisting of many DNA strands. 1 Well-designed structures will self-assemble during annealing from a high initial temperature at which point all molecules are single-stranded to a lower final

Citations