DNA nanotechnology has emerged as a reliable and programmable way of controlling matter
at the nanoscale through the specificity of Watson–Crick base pairing, allowing both complex
self-assembled structures with nanometer precision and complex reaction networks implementing
digital and analog behaviors. Here we show how two well-developed frameworks,
DNA tile self-assembly and DNA strand-displacement circuits, can be systematically
integrated to provide programmable kinetic control of self-assembly. We demonstrate the
triggered and catalytic isothermal self-assembly of DNA nanotubes over 10 µm long from
precursor DNA double-crossover tiles activated by an upstream DNA catalyst network.
Integrating more sophisticated control circuits and tile systems could enable precise spatial
and temporal organization of dynamic molecular structures
