Self-Assembly of Frayed Wires and Frayed-Wire Networks: Nanoconstruction with Multistranded DNA

New types of self-assembled 2-D and 3-D DNA networks are presented and characterized using scanning force microscopy. The building blocks of these networks are guanine-rich DNA sequences, d(A 15 G 15 ) and biotinylated-d(A 15 G 15 ). These sequences self-assemble into high molecular weight structures, frayed wires, that are composed of a multistranded guanine core with single-stranded adenosine tracts emanating from the core at ∼6 nm intervals. Avidin peroxidase was attached to the biotinylated frayed wires with retention of activity, demonstrating that these structures can be used as scaffolds to support multiple copies of non-DNA molecules. Finally, the frayed wires were linked together with CT 15 or T 15 to form large 2- and 3-dimensional networks.