Toward Precise Fabrication of Finite-Sized DNA Origami Superstructures.

DNA origami enables the precise construction of 2D and 3D nanostructures with customizable shapes and the high-resolution organization of functional materials. However, the size of a single DNA origami is constrained by the length of the scaffold strand, and since its inception, scaling up the size and complexity has been a persistent pursuit. Hierarchical self-assembly of DNA origami units offers a feasible approach to overcome the limitation.

Planar oligomerization of reconfigurable gold nanorod dimers.

Reconfigurable chiral plasmonic complexes are fabricated by planar assembly of multiple individual gold nanorod dimers using DNA origami templates. Additionally, each chiral center can be controlled to switch among achiral, left-handed, and right-handed states. We demonstrate that their overall circular dichroism is determined by the coupling of individual chiral centers and is heavily influenced by the precise number and arrangement of these centers.

Chloroplast and Nuclear Genetic Diversity Explain the Limited Distribution of Endangered and Endemic in China.

Narrow-ranged species face challenges from natural disasters and human activities, and to address why species distributes only in a limited region is of great significance. Here we investigated the genetic diversity, gene flow, and genetic differentiation in six wild and three cultivated populations of , a species that survive only in the Daba mountain chain, using chloroplast simple sequence repeats (cpSSR) and nuclear restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (nRAD-seq). Wild populations were from a common ancestral population at 203 ka, indicating they reached the Daba mountain chain before the start of population contraction at the Last Interglacial (LIG, ∼120-140 ka).

Assembling gold nanobipyramids into chiral plasmonic nanostructures with DNA origami.

Herein, we report the assembly of gold nanobipyramids (AuNBPs) into static and dynamic chiral plasmonic nanostructures via DNA origami. Compared with conventional chiral dimers of gold nanorods (AuNRs), AuNBP dimers exhibit more intriguing chiroptical responses, suggesting that they could be a superior alternative for constructing chiral plasmonic nanostructures for biosensing.

Pb-Doped Ag Se Quantum Dots with Enhanced Photoluminescence in the NIR-II Window.

Ag Se quantum dots (QDs) as an effective biological probe in the second near-infrared window (NIR-II, 1000-1700 nm) have been widely applied in bioimaging with high tissue penetration depth and high spatiotemporal resolution. However, the ions deficiency and crystal defects caused by the high Ag mobility in Ag Se crystals are mainly responsible for the inefficient photoluminescence (PL) of Ag Se QDs. Herein, a tailored route is reported to achieve controllable doping of Ag Se QDs in which Ag is exchanged by Pb via cation exchange (CE), which is unattainable by direct synthetic methods.

Using exosomal miRNAs extracted from porcine follicular fluid to investigate their role in oocyte development.

Background: Follicular development is crucial to normal oocyte maturation, with follicular size closely related to oocyte maturation. To better understand the molecular mechanisms behind porcine oocyte maturation, we obtained exosomal miRNA from porcine follicular fluid (PFF). These miRNA samples were then sequenced and analyzed regarding their different follicular sizes, as described in the methods section.

DNA-Based Adaptive Plasmonic Logic Gates.

Self-assembled plasmonic logic gates that read DNA molecules as input and return plasmonic chiroptical signals as outputs are reported. Such logic gates are achieved on a DNA-based platform that logically regulate the conformation of a chiral plasmonic nanostructure, upon specific input DNA strands and internal computing units. With systematical designs, a complete set of Boolean logical gates are realized.

Towards Active Self-Assembly Through DNA Nanotechnology.

Self-assembly, which is ubiquitous in living systems, also stimulates countless synthetic molecular self-assembling systems. Most synthetic self-assemblies are realized by passive processes, going from high-energy states to thermodynamic equilibrium. Conversely, living systems work out of equilibrium, meaning they are energy-consuming, dissipative and active.

Reconfigurable Plasmonic Diastereomers Assembled by DNA Origami.

Herein, we report self-assembled reconfigurable plasmonic diastereomers based on DNA nanotechnology. Up to three plasmonic chiral centers were organized by dynamic DNA origami platforms. Meanwhile, each chiral center could be individually controlled to switch between left-handed and right-handed states.

Toward Precise Manipulation of DNA-Protein Hybrid Nanoarchitectures.

Nucleic acids and proteins are the two primary building materials of living organisms. Over the past decade, artificial DNA-protein hybrid structures have been pursued for a wide range of applications. DNA nanotechnology, in particular, has dramatically expanded nanoscale molecule engineering and contributed to the spatial arrangement of protein components.

Modular Assembly of Plasmonic Nanoparticles Assisted by DNA Origami.

Arraying noble metal nanoparticles with nanoscale features is an important way to develop plasmonic devices with novel optical properties such as plasmonic chiral metamolecules, optical waveguides, and so forth. Along with top-down methods of fabricating plasmonic nanostructures, solution-based self-assembly provides an alternative approach. There are mainly two routes to organizing metal nanoparticles via self-assembly.