DNAjig: A New Approach for Building DNA Nanostructures

Abstract

DNA self-assembly is an emerging technique in DNA nanotechnology that holds promise for high impact applications such as in the synthesis of DNA-based nanodevices in medicine, robotics and electronics. Recent advancements in technologies and ideas have spurred new growth in the area. The most significant challenge faced by designers in the field is the lack of algorithmic and software options to aid in the design process, and as a result the scope of synthesis has been restricted to modeling a limited set of shapes in 2D. In this paper, we propose a new design methodology called DNAjig to build DNA nanostructures. The highlights of this method are as follows: i) The construction procedure is based on a novel application of space-filling curves to model the shape of an arbitrary user-specified 2D or 3D object. ii) The method results in a simple, yet recursively constructable design layout that is inherently interlocked. iii) Almost all steps within the proposed design procedure can be automated and we present algorithms and a base-version implementation for the same. Wetlab validation showing the results of self-assembly of our first batch of computer generated 2D models is presented.