11 research outputs found
A Smart DNA Tetrahedron That Isothermally Assembles or Dissociates in Response to the Solution pH Value Changes
This communication reports a DNA
tetrahedron whose self-assembly
is triggered by an acidic environment. The key element is the formation/dissociation
of a short, cytosine (C)-containing, DNA triplex. As the solution
pH value oscillates between 5.0 and 8.0, the DNA triplex will form
and dissociate that, in turn, leads to assembly or disassembly of
the DNA tetrahedron, which has been demonstrated by native polyacrylamide
gel electrophoresis (PAGE). We believe that such environment-responsive
behavior will be important for potential applications of DNA nanocages
such as on-demand drug release
Artificial, Parallel, Left-Handed DNA Helices
This communication reports an engineered DNA architecture.
It contains
multiple domains of half-turn-long, standard B-DNA duplexes. While
each helical domain is right-handed and its two component strands
are antiparallel, the global architecture is left-handed and the two
component DNA strands are oriented parallel to each other
DNA Nanostructures-Mediated Molecular Imprinting Lithography
This paper describes
the fabrication of polymer stamps using DNA
nanostructure templates. This process creates stamps having diverse
nanoscale features with dimensions ranging from several tens of nanometers
to micrometers. DNA nanostructures including DNA nanotubes, stretched
λ-DNA, two-dimensional (2D) DNA brick crystals with three-dimensional
(3D) features, hexagonal DNA 2D arrays, and triangular DNA origami
were used as master templates to transfer patterns to poly(methyl
methacrylate) and poly(l-lactic acid) with high fidelity.
The resulting polymer stamps were used as molds to transfer the pattern
to acryloxy perfluoropolyether polymer. This work establishes an approach
to using self-assembled DNA templates for applications in soft lithography
Self-Assembly of Responsive Multilayered DNA Nanocages
Here
we report the assembly of multilayered DNA nanocages. The
layers can be separated in response to a chemical cue, ATP. This is
an effort to increase the structural complexity of DNA nanocages.
The structures have been characterized by native polyacrylamide gel
electrophoresis, atomic force microscopy, and cryogenic electron microscopy.
We envision that the layer-by-layer assembly strategy used in this
study can be easily applied to other DNA nanocages to form Russian-doll-like
semisolid structures, while the chemically activated layer separation
makes a contribution to the development of “smart” DNA
nanocages
Reversibly Switching the Surface Porosity of a DNA Tetrahedron
The ability to reversibly switch the surface porosity
of nanocages would allow controllable matter transport in and out
of the nanocages. This would be a desirable property for many technological
applications, such as drug delivery. To achieve such capability, however,
is challenging. Herein we report a strategy for reversibly changing
the surface porosity of a self-assembled DNA nanocage (a DNA tetrahedron)
that is based on DNA hydridization and strand displacement. The involved
DNA nanostructures were thoroughly characterized by multiple techniques,
including polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, dynamic light scattering,
atomic force microscopy, and cryogenic electron microscopy. This work
may lead to the design and construction of stimuli-responsive nanocages
that might find applications as smart materials
Retrosynthetic Analysis-Guided Breaking Tile Symmetry for the Assembly of Complex DNA Nanostructures
Current tile-based
DNA self-assembly produces simple repetitive
or highly symmetric structures. In the case of 2D lattices, the unit
cell often contains only one basic tile because the tiles often are
symmetric (in terms of either the backbone or the sequence). In this
work, we have applied retrosynthetic analysis to determine the minimal
asymmetric units for complex DNA nanostructures. Such analysis guides
us to break the intrinsic structural symmetries of the tiles to achieve
high structural complexities. This strategy has led to the construction
of several DNA nanostructures that are not accessible from conventional
symmetric tile designs. Along with previous studies, herein we have
established a set of four fundamental rules regarding tile-based assembly.
Such rules could serve as guidelines for the design of DNA nanostructures
A new glycoprotein SPG-8700 isolated from sweet potato with potential anti-cancer activity against colon cancer
<p>A new small molecule glycoprotein SPG-8700 with potential anti-colorectal cancer activity was firstly separated by tracking of bioactivity from a new sweet potato variety Zhongshu-1. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry, high-performance liquid chromatography and amino acid analyzer were applied separately to determine the molecular weight and compositions of this glycoprotein. Flow cytometry analysis and western blotting analysis were employed to explore it’s mechanism of the anti-colorectal cancer. The molecular weight of glycoprotein was 8703.8D (SPG-8700). Relative sugar and protein contents in SPG-8700 were 73.4 and 26.6%, comprising more than 6 types of sugars (mannose, rhamnose, glucuronic acid, glucose, galactose and arabinose with a proportion of 1:6.9:7.3:1.5:46:21). Further results indicated that SPG-8700 promoted apoptosis in HCT-116 cells through regulating the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax and had no effect on the growth of normal cells.</p
Supra-Nanoparticle Functional Assemblies through Programmable Stacking
The quest for the
by-design assembly of material and devices from
nanoscale inorganic components is well recognized. Conventional self-assembly
is often limited in its ability to control material morphology and
structure simultaneously. Here, we report a general method of assembling
nanoparticles in a linear “pillar” morphology with regulated
internal configurations. Our approach is inspired by supramolecular
systems, where intermolecular stacking guides the assembly process
to form diverse linear morphologies. Programmable stacking interactions
were realized through incorporation of DNA coded recognition between
the designed planar nanoparticle clusters. This resulted in the formation
of multilayered pillar architectures with a well-defined internal
nanoparticle organization. By controlling the number, position, size,
and composition of the nanoparticles in each layer, a broad range
of nanoparticle pillars were assembled and characterized in detail.
In addition, we demonstrated the utility of this stacking assembly
strategy for investigating plasmonic and electrical transport properties
Supra-Nanoparticle Functional Assemblies through Programmable Stacking
The quest for the
by-design assembly of material and devices from
nanoscale inorganic components is well recognized. Conventional self-assembly
is often limited in its ability to control material morphology and
structure simultaneously. Here, we report a general method of assembling
nanoparticles in a linear “pillar” morphology with regulated
internal configurations. Our approach is inspired by supramolecular
systems, where intermolecular stacking guides the assembly process
to form diverse linear morphologies. Programmable stacking interactions
were realized through incorporation of DNA coded recognition between
the designed planar nanoparticle clusters. This resulted in the formation
of multilayered pillar architectures with a well-defined internal
nanoparticle organization. By controlling the number, position, size,
and composition of the nanoparticles in each layer, a broad range
of nanoparticle pillars were assembled and characterized in detail.
In addition, we demonstrated the utility of this stacking assembly
strategy for investigating plasmonic and electrical transport properties
Table_1_The causal effect of HbA1c on white matter brain aging by two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis.XLSX
BackgroundPoor glycemic control with elevated levels of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is associated with increased risk of cognitive impairment, with potentially varying effects between sexes. However, the causal impact of poor glycemic control on white matter brain aging in men and women is uncertain.MethodsWe used two nonoverlapping data sets from UK Biobank cohort: gene-outcome group (with neuroimaging data, (N = 15,193; males/females: 7,101/8,092)) and gene-exposure group (without neuroimaging data, (N = 279,011; males/females: 122,638/156,373)). HbA1c was considered the exposure and adjusted “brain age gap” (BAG) was calculated on fractional anisotropy (FA) obtained from brain imaging as the outcome, thereby representing the difference between predicted and chronological age. The causal effects of HbA1c on adjusted BAG were studied using the generalized inverse variance weighted (gen-IVW) and other sensitivity analysis methods, including Mendelian randomization (MR)-weighted median, MR-pleiotropy residual sum and outlier, MR-using mixture models, and leave-one-out analysis.ResultsWe found that for every 6.75 mmol/mol increase in HbA1c, there was an increase of 0.49 (95% CI = 0.24, 0.74; p-value = 1.30 × 10−4) years in adjusted BAG. Subgroup analyses by sex and age revealed significant causal effects of HbA1c on adjusted BAG, specifically among men aged 60–73 (p-value = 2.37 × 10−8).ConclusionPoor glycemic control has a significant causal effect on brain aging, and is most pronounced among older men aged 60–73 years, which provides insights between glycemic control and the susceptibility to age-related neurodegenerative diseases.</p