DNA origami drives gene expression in a human cell culture system.

Self-assembling DNA nanoparticles have the potential to significantly advance the targeted delivery of molecular cargo owing to their chemical and architectural flexibility. Recently, it has been demonstrated that the genetic code embedded in DNA nanoparticles produced by the method of DNA origami or related techniques can be recognized and copied by RNA polymerase in vitro. Further, sculpted DNA nanoparticles can serve as a substrate for Cas9-mediated gene modification and gene expression in cell culture.

In vitro transcription of self-assembling DNA nanoparticles.

Nucleic acid nanoparticles are playing an increasingly important role in biomolecular diagnostics and therapeutics as well as a variety of other areas. The unique attributes of self-assembling DNA nanoparticles provide a potentially valuable addition or alternative to the lipid-based nanoparticles that are currently used to ferry nucleic acids in living systems. To explore this possibility, we have assessed the ability of self-assembling DNA nanoparticles to be constructed from complete gene cassettes that are capable of gene expression in vitro.