Abstract
DNA self-assembly has yielded various polyhedra based on platonic solids. DNA polyhedra can act as nanocapsules by entrapping various molecular entities from solution and could possibly find use in targeted delivery within living systems. A key requirement for encapsulation is that the polyhedron should have maximal encapsulation volume while maintaining minimum pore size. It is well known that platonic solids possess maximal encapsulation volumes. We therefore constructed an icosahedron from DNA using a modular self-assembly strategy. We describe a method to determine the functionality of DNA polyhedra as nanocapsules by encapsulating different cargo such as gold nanoparticles and functional biomolecules like FITC dextran from solution within DNA icosahedra.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Dr. S.S. Indi and Dr. Atanu Basu at Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, IISc and NIV, Pune, respectively, for providing electron microscopy facilities, Prof. Dipanker Chatterji, MBU, IISc for use of the lifetime instrument. D.B., S.M., and S.C. thank CSIR, Government of India (GoI) for research fellowships. This work was funded by the Nano Science and Technology Initiative, DST, GoI, and the Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award, DBT (GoI) to Y.K.
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Bhatia, D., Chakraborty, S., Mehtab, S., Krishnan, Y. (2013). A Method to Encapsulate Molecular Cargo Within DNA Icosahedra. In: Weissig, V., Elbayoumi, T., Olsen, M. (eds) Cellular and Subcellular Nanotechnology. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 991. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-336-7_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-336-7_8
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