DNA nanotechnology enables the synthesis of nanometer‐sized objects that can be site‐specifically functionalized with a large variety of materials. For these reasons, DNA‐based devices such as DNA ...origami are being considered for applications in molecular biology and nanomedicine. However, many DNA structures need a higher ionic strength than that of common cell culture buffers or bodily fluids to maintain their integrity and can be degraded quickly by nucleases. To overcome these deficiencies, we coated several different DNA origami structures with a cationic poly(ethylene glycol)–polylysine block copolymer, which electrostatically covered the DNA nanostructures to form DNA origami polyplex micelles (DOPMs). This straightforward, cost‐effective, and robust route to protect DNA‐based structures could therefore enable applications in biology and nanomedicine where unprotected DNA origami would be degraded.
Polymeric protection: DNA origami nanostructures generally need higher ionic strengths than those of common cell culture buffers to maintain their integrity and are quickly degraded by nucleases. They can, however, be protected from these processes through the formation of polyplex micelles with poly(ethylene glycol)‐b‐polylysine.
Microbial symbionts of insects provide a range of ecological traits to their hosts that are beneficial in the context of biotic interactions. However, little is known about insect symbiont‐mediated ...adaptation to the abiotic environment, for example, temperature and humidity. Here, we report on an ancient clade of intracellular, bacteriome‐located Bacteroidetes symbionts that are associated with grain and wood pest beetles of the phylogenetically distant families Silvanidae and Bostrichidae. In the saw‐toothed grain beetle Oryzaephilus surinamensis, we demonstrate that the symbionts affect cuticle thickness, melanization and hydrocarbon profile, enhancing desiccation resistance and thereby strongly improving fitness under dry conditions. Together with earlier observations on symbiont contributions to cuticle biosynthesis in weevils, our findings indicate that convergent acquisitions of bacterial mutualists represented key adaptations enabling diverse pest beetle groups to survive and proliferate under the low ambient humidity that characterizes dry grain storage facilities.
Plasmonic structures allow the manipulation of light with materials that are smaller than the optical wavelength. Such structures can consist of plasmonically active metal nanoparticles and can be ...fabricated through scalable bottom-up self-assembly on DNA origami templates. To produce functional devices, the precise and high-yield arrangement of each of the nanoparticles on a structure is of vital importance as the absence of a single particle can destroy the functionality of the entire device. Nevertheless, the parameters influencing the yield of the multistep assembly process are still poorly understood. To overcome this deficiency, we employed a test system consisting of a tubular six-helix bundle DNA origami with binding sites for eight oligonucleotide-functionalized gold nanoparticles. We systematically studied the assembly yield as a function of a wide range of parameters such as ionic strength, stoichiometric ratio, oligonucleotide linker chemistry, and assembly kinetics by an automated high-throughput analysis of electron micrographs of the formed heterocomplexes. Our optimized protocols enable particle placement yields up to 98.7% and promise the reliable production of sophisticated DNA-based multiparticle plasmonic devices for applications in photonics, optoelectronics, and nanomedicine.
Topologically interlocked structures like catenanes and rotaxanes are promising components for the construction of molecular machines and motors. Herein we describe the construction of ...double-stranded DNA catenanes for DNA nanotechnology. For this, C-shaped DNA minicircle fragments were equipped with sequence-specific DNA-binding polyamides and their respective binding site. Formation of catenanes is achieved by self-assembly of two of these fragments and subsequent addition of a ring-closing oligonucleotide.
The programmability of DNA enables constructing nanostructures with almost any arbitrary shape, which can be decorated with many functional materials. Moreover, dynamic structures can be realized ...such as molecular motors and walkers. In this work, we have explored the possibility to synthesize the complementary sequences to single-stranded gap regions in the DNA origami scaffold cost effectively by a DNA polymerase rather than by a DNA synthesizer. For this purpose, four different wireframe DNA origami structures were designed to have single-stranded gap regions. This reduced the number of staple strands needed to determine the shape and size of the final structure after gap filling. For this, several DNA polymerases and single-stranded binding (SSB) proteins were tested, with T4 DNA polymerase being the best fit. The structures could be folded in as little as 6 min, and the subsequent optimized gap-filling reaction was completed in less than 3 min. The introduction of flexible gap regions results in fully collapsed or partially bent structures due to entropic spring effects. Finally, we demonstrated structural transformations of such deformed wireframe DNA origami structures with DNA polymerases including the expansion of collapsed structures and the straightening of curved tubes. We anticipate that this approach will become a powerful tool to build DNA wireframe structures more material-efficiently, and to quickly prototype and test new wireframe designs that can be expanded, rigidified, or mechanically switched. Mechanical force generation and structural transitions will enable applications in structural DNA nanotechnology, plasmonics, or single-molecule biophysics.
DNA nanotechnology offers unique control over matter on the nanoscale. Here, we extend the DNA origami method to cover a range of wireframe truss structures composed of equilateral triangles, which ...use less material per volume than standard multiple-helix bundles. From a flat truss design, we folded tetrahedral, octahedral, or irregular dodecahedral trusses by exchanging few connector strands. Other than standard origami designs, the trusses can be folded in low-salt buffers that make them compatible with cell culture buffers. The structures also have defined cavities that may in the future be used to precisely position functional elements such as metallic nanoparticles or enzymes. Our graph routing program and a simple design pipeline will enable other laboratories to make use of this valuable and potent new construction principle for DNA-based nanoengineering.
The histogram of oriented gradients (HOG) is widely used for image description and proves to be very effective. In many vision problems, rotation-invariant analysis is necessary or preferred. Popular ...solutions are mainly based on pose normalization or learning, neglecting some intrinsic properties of rotations. This paper presents a method to build rotation-invariant HOG descriptors using Fourier analysis in polar/spherical coordinates, which are closely related to the irreducible representation of the 2D/3D rotation groups. This is achieved by considering a gradient histogram as a continuous angular signal which can be well represented by the Fourier basis (2D) or spherical harmonics (3D). As rotation-invariance is established in an analytical way, we can avoid discretization artifacts and create a continuous mapping from the image to the feature space. In the experiments, we first show that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art in a public dataset for a car detection task in aerial images. We further use the Princeton Shape Benchmark and the SHREC 2009 Generic Shape Benchmark to demonstrate the high performance of our method for similarity measures of 3D shapes. Finally, we show an application on microscopic volumetric data.
Mimicking the appearance of the real world is a longstanding goal of computer graphics, with several important applications in the feature film, architecture and medical industries. Images with ...well‐designed shading are an important tool for conveying information about the world, be it the shape and function of a computer‐aided design (CAD) model, or the mood of a movie sequence. However, authoring this content is often a tedious task, even if undertaken by groups of highly trained and experienced artists. Unsurprisingly, numerous methods to facilitate and accelerate this appearance editing task have been proposed, enabling the editing of scene objects' appearances, lighting and materials, as well as entailing the introduction of new interaction paradigms and specialized preview rendering techniques. In this review, we provide a comprehensive survey of artistic appearance, lighting and material editing approaches. We organize this complex and active research area in a structure tailored to academic researchers, graduate students and industry professionals alike. In addition to editing approaches, we discuss how user interaction paradigms and rendering back ends combine to form usable systems for appearance editing. We conclude with a discussion of open problems and challenges to motivate and guide future research.
Mimicking the appearance of the real world is a longstanding goal of computer graphics, with several important applications in the feature film, architecture and medical industries. Images with well‐designed shading are an important tool for conveying information about the world, be it the shape and function of a computer‐aided design (CAD) model, or the mood of a movie sequence. However, authoring this content is often a tedious task, even if undertaken by groups of highly trained and experienced artists. Unsurprisingly, numerous methods to facilitate and accelerate this appearance editing task have been proposed, enabling the editing of scene objects' appearances, lighting and materials, as well as entailing the introduction of new interaction paradigms and specialized preview rendering techniques. In this review we provide a comprehensive survey of artistic appearance, lighting, and material editing approaches. We organize this complex and active research area in a structure tailored to academic researchers, graduate students, and industry professionals alike. In addition to editing approaches, we discuss how user interaction paradigms and rendering backends combine to form usable systems for appearance editing. We conclude with a discussion of open problems and challenges to motivate and guide future research.
Display omitted
DNA composite materials are at the forefront, especially for biomedical science, as they can increase the efficacy and safety of current therapies and drug delivery systems. The ...specificity and predictability of the Watson-Crick base pairing make DNA an excellent building material for the production of programmable and multifunctional objects. In addition, the principle of nucleic acid hybridization can be applied to realize mobile nanostructures, such as those reflected in DNA walkers that sort and collect cargo on DNA tracks, DNA robots performing tasks within living cells and/or DNA tweezers as ultra-sensitive biosensors. In this review, we present the diversity of dynamic DNA nanostructures functionalized with different biomolecules/functional units, imaging smart biomaterials capable of sensing, interacting, delivery and performing complex tasks within living cells/organisms.
The DNA origami technique allows the precise synthesis of complex, biocompatible nanomaterials containing small molecules, biomolecules, and inorganic nanoparticles. The negatively charged phosphates ...in the backbone make DNA highly water-soluble and require salts to shield its electrostatic repulsion. DNA origamis are therefore not soluble in most organic solvents. While this is not problematic for applications in biochemistry, biophysics, or nanomedicine, other potential applications, processes, and substrates are incompatible with saline solutions, which include the synthesis of many nanomaterials, and reactions in templated synthesis, the operation of nanoelectronic devices, or semiconductor fabrication. To overcome this limitation, we coated DNA origami with amphiphilic poly(ethylene glycol) polylysine block copolymers and transferred them into various organic solvents including chloroform, dichloromethane, acetone, or 1-propanol. Our approach maintains the shape of the nanostructures and protects functional elements bound to the structure, such as fluorophores, gold nanoparticles, or proteins. The DNA origami polyplex micellization (DOPM) strategy hence enables solubilization or a phase transfer of complex structures into various organic solvents, which significantly expands the use of DNA origami for a range of potential applications and technical processes.
PDF
