Self-Assembled Water-Soluble Nucleic Acid Probe Tiles for Label-Free RNA Hybridization Assays
Yonggang Ke,1,3
Stuart Lindsay,1,3,4
Yung Chang,2,5
Yan Liu,1,3
Hao Yan1,3*
The DNA origami method, in which long, single-stranded DNA segments are folded into shapes by short staple segments, was used to create nucleic acid probe tiles that are molecular analogs of macroscopic DNA chips. One hundred trillion probe tiles were fabricated in one step and bear pairs of 20-nucleotide-long single-stranded DNA segments that act as probe sequences. These tiles can hybridize to their targets in solution and, after adsorption onto mica surfaces, can be examined by atomic force microscopy in order to quantify binding events, because the probe segments greatly increase in stiffness upon hybridization. The nucleic acid probe tiles have been used to study position-dependent hybridization on the nanoscale and have also been used for label-free detection of RNA.
1 Center for Single Molecule Biophysics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
2 Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
3 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
4 Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
5 School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: hao.yan{at}asu.edu
