What is DNA Origami?
DNA origami is a powerful method for constructing DNA objects. It involves taking a long, single-stranded DNA backbone (usually about 7000 bases in length) and forcing it to adopt an arbitrary shape using hundreds of short, single-stranded DNA oligonucleotides (each usually 20 to 50 bases long). This method was developed by Caltech scientist Paul Rothemund and published in the 16 March 2006 Nature cover story Folding DNA to create nanoscale shapes and patterns. In a process that is not yet well-understood, DNA origami structures are typically assembled through a process of heat denaturation followed by gradual cooling. More details about the method can be found in various publications.
An exciting new method of manipulating DNA could hold great promise for the future of molecular electronics. It’s DNA origami, the brainchild of Caltech researcher Paul Rothemund. DNA origami is mind-boggling in its possibilities, yet employs the simplest of techniques and one of art’s most elegant practices. Remember that DNA comes in the celebrated “double helix,” a pair of strands of molecular material that intertwine. DNA is used by nearly every organism on the planet to make proteins via a special set of “instructions.” If we could somehow make those instructions work for us, then we could construct on our own things that would otherwise be made by nature. DNA origami is the first step in this process. DNA origami might sound a bit like the sort of cloning that is part of the ongoing public ethics debate, but it is in essence what Rothemund and others are doing. Rather than molding whole animals or humans, however, these researchers are making far smaller products as they make lar
