Functional DNA-based cytoskeletons for synthetic cells.

ABSTRACT: The cytoskeleton is an essential component of a cell. It controls the cell shape, establishes the internal organization, and performs vital biological functions. Building synthetic cytoskeletons that mimic key features of their natural counterparts delineates a crucial step towards synthetic cells assembled from the bottom up. To this end, DNA nanotechnology represents one of the most promising routes, given the inherent sequence specificity, addressability and programmability of DNA. Here we demonstrate functional DNA-based cytoskeletons operating in microfluidic cell-sized compartments. The synthetic cytoskeletons consist of DNA tiles self-assembled into filament networks. These filaments can be rationally designed and controlled to imitate features of natural cytoskeletons, including re

SUBMITTER: Zhan P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9359917 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature