Taming polymorphism of tubule self-assembly using templated growth

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that using precisely defined seeds in DNA-origami tubule assembly reduces polymorphism, enabling controlled growth of monodisperse tubules with specific diameters and helicity, overcoming spontaneous nucleation issues.

Contribution

The study introduces seed templating strategies to control tubule self-assembly, significantly decreasing polymorphism and enabling targeted, monodisperse tubule growth from a single monomer type.

Findings

Templated tubules follow seed guidance, increasing geometry selectivity.

Adjusting seed diameter templates a range of tubule sizes.

Seed-guided assembly reduces polymorphism in self-closing structures.

Abstract

Self-closing assembly is prone to polymorphism due to thermally-excited bending fluctuations, which permit the formation of off-target assemblies at the point of self-closure. One way to overcome this source of polymorphism is to use templated growth, a process in which assembly initiates from a precisely-defined seed rather than by spontaneous nucleation. We explore this approach to quelling polymorphism in the self-closing assembly of cylindrical tubules assembled from DNA-origami subunits with user-specified inter-subunit binding angles and specific interactions. We develop two strategies to create seeds with precisely-defined diameters and helicity: 1) using multicomponent assembly; and 2) purifying a specific seed-type from a polymorphic mixture using gel electrophoresis and gel extraction. By tuning the seed and monomer concentrations, and adjusting the assembly temperature, we determine the conditions under which tubules grow from the seed while avoiding spontaneous nucleation. We observe that templated tubules tend to follow the guidance of the seed, thereby increasing the selectivity of the target geometry. Also, we find that by tuning the diameter of the seed, one can template the growth of monodisperse tubules over a range of target diameters, even while using a single monomer type with a single preferred local curvature. Our results demonstrate that employing precisely defined seeds to guide assembly can significantly decrease polymorphism in self-closing assembly in a controllable and economical way.