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Towards Active Self-Assembly Through DNA Nanotechnology

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Abstract

Self-assembly, which is ubiquitous in living systems, also stimulates countless synthetic molecular self-assembling systems. Most synthetic self-assemblies are realized by passive processes, going from high-energy states to thermodynamic equilibrium. Conversely, living systems work out of equilibrium, meaning they are energy-consuming, dissipative and active. In recently years, chemists have made extensive efforts to design artificial active self-assembly systems, which will be pivotal to emulating and understanding life. Among various strategies, emerging approaches based on DNA nanotechnology have attracted a lot of attention. Structural- as well as dynamic-DNA-nanotechnology offer diverse tools with which to design building blocks and to shape their assembly behaviors. To achieve active self-assembly, a synergy of diverse DNA techniques is essential, including structural design, controllable assembly–disassembly, autonomous assembly, molecular circuits, biochemical oscillators, and so on. In this review, we introduce progress towards, or related to, active assembly via DNA nanotechnology. Dynamic DNA assembly systems ranging from passive assembly–disassembly systems, to autonomous assembly systems to sophisticated artificial metabolism and time-clocking oscillation systems will be discussed. We catalogue these systems from the perspective of free energy change with the reaction process. We end the review with a brief outlook and discussion.

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Reproduced with permission from Ref. [22]. Copyright © 2016, American Chemical Society

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Reproduced with permission from Ref. [24]. Copyright © 2019, the Royal Chemical Society

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Reproduced with permission from Ref. [28]. Copyright © 2017, American Chemical Society

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a Reproduced with permission from Ref. [30]. Copyright © 2014, American Chemical Society; b reproduced with permission from Ref. [31]. Copyright © 2017, American Chemical Society; c reproduced with permission from ref [32]. Copyright © 2018, John Wiley and Sons

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a Reproduced with permission from Ref. [33]. Copyright © 2004, National Academy of Sciences; b reproduced with permission from Ref. [34]. Copyright © 2010, Springer Nature

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a Reproduced with permission from Ref. [36]. Copyright © 2007, Springer Nature; b reproduced with permission from Ref. [37]. Copyright © 2017, American Association for the Advancement of Science

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a Reproduced with permission from Ref. [40]. Copyright © 2007, American Association for the Advancement of Science; b reproduced with permission from Ref. [41]. Copyright © 2008, Springer Nature and Ref. [42] Copyright © 2011, Oxford University Press

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a, b Reproduced with permission from Ref. [47]. Copyright © 2017, American Chemical Society; c reproduced with permission from Ref. [48]. Copyright © 2017, Springer Nature

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a, b Reproduced with permission from Ref. [54]. Copyright © 2011, John Wiley and Sons; c Reproduced with permission from Ref. [55]. Copyright © 2011, National Academy of Sciences

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Fig. 18

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 21977112), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20190227) and Chinese Academy of Sciences (Y9BES11, Y9AAS110).

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  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Nano-Bio Interfaces, Division of Nanobiomedicine and i-Lab, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou, 215123, People’s Republic of China

    Jinyi Dong, Chao Zhou & Qiangbin Wang

  2. School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201210, People’s Republic of China

    Jinyi Dong

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This article is part of the Topical Collection “DNA Nanotechnology: From Structure to Functionality”; edited by Chunhai Fan, Yonggang Ke.

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Dong, J., Zhou, C. & Wang, Q. Towards Active Self-Assembly Through DNA Nanotechnology. Top Curr Chem (Z) 378, 33 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41061-020-0297-5

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