DNA Nanotechnology: from functional devices to DNA materials

With modest wording Ned Seeman claimed that "it appears to be possible to generate covalently joined three-dimensional networks of nucleic acids which are periodic in connectivity and perhaps in space" in his 1982 paper "Nucleic Acid Junctions and Lattices".[1] We know that he and his lab have not only succeeded with this task; as a "side effect" they also lay the foundation for the flourishing field of DNA Nanotechnology with its many fascinating subbranches. 
Inspired by the seminal DNA crystals design of Ned and Chengde Mao, which is based on a "tensegrity triangle" where three DNA duplexes are interconnected in a self-restricting over-under, over-under, over-under fashion, [2] our team set out to build 3D DNA origami crystals with lattice spacings approaching the wavelength of visible light. By adopting this design principle, we first presented a DNA origami tensegrity triangle that crystallizes into three dimensional, micrometer-scale assemblies. [3] With our goal to assemble functional DNA-based materials we have now expanded the range of lattice types to square and diamond lattices. Employing in-buffer silicification processes, we render our crystallites chemically and mechanically stable [4,5] and enable deposition of a variety of inorganic materials for potential applications in optics and catalysis.

1. N. C. Seeman, Annu. Rev. Biochem. 79, 12.1 (2010)
2. J. Zheng et al. Nature 461, 74-77 (2009)
3. T. Zhang et al. Advanced Materials, doi: 10.1002/adma.201800273 (2018)
4. X. Liu et al. Nature 559, 593-598 (2018)
5. L. Nguyen et al. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 58, 912-916 (2019)