8G4G

Crystal Engineering with One 8-mer DNA

Summary for 8G4G

• Entry DOI: 10.2210/pdb8g4g/pdb
• Descriptor: DNA (5'-D(P*CP*CP*G)-3'), DNA (5'-D(*AP*TP*CP*GP*GP*CP*CP*G)-3'), DNA (5'-D(*AP*TP*CP*GP*G)-3') (3 entities in total)
• Functional Keywords: dna, 8-mer, meta-triplex
• Biological source: synthetic construct; More
• Total number of polymer chains: 5
• Total formula weight: 7192.90

Authors

Zhao, J.,Zhang, C.,Lu, B.,Seeman, N.C.,Noinaj, N.,Sha, R.,Mao, C. (deposition date: 2023-02-09, release date: 2023-05-10, Last modification date: 2024-05-22)

Primary citation

Zhao, J.,Zhang, C.,Lu, B.,Sha, R.,Noinaj, N.,Mao, C.
Divergence and Convergence: Complexity Emerges in Crystal Engineering from an 8-mer DNA.
J.Am.Chem.Soc., 145:10475-10479, 2023

PubMed Abstract: Biology provides plenty of examples on achieving complicated structures out of minimal numbers of building blocks. In contrast, structural complexity of designed molecular systems is achieved by increasing the numbers of component molecules. In this study, the component DNA strand assembles into a highly complex crystal structure via an unusual path of divergence and convergence. This assembly path suggests a route to minimalists for increasing structural complexity. The original purpose of this study is to engineer DNA crystals with high resolution, which is the primary motivation and a key objective for structural DNA nanotechnology. Despite great efforts in the last 40 years, engineered DNA crystals have not yet consistently reached resolution better than 2.5 Å, limiting their potential uses. Our research has shown that small, symmetrical building blocks generally lead to high resolution crystals. Herein, by following this principle, we report an engineered DNA crystal with unprecedented high resolution (2.17 Å) assembled from one single DNA component: an 8-base-long DNA strand. This system has three unique characteristics: (1) It has a very complex architecture, (2) the same DNA strand forms two different structural motifs, both of which are incorporated into the final crystal, and (3) the component DNA molecule is only an 8-base-long DNA strand, which is, arguably, the smallest DNA motif for DNA nanostructures to date. This high resolution opens the possibility of using these DNA crystals to precisely organize guest molecules at the Å level, which could stimulate a range of new investigations.

PubMed: 37134185
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.3c01941

Experimental method

X-RAY DIFFRACTION (2.17 Å)