DRUGS could be delivered from minuscule medicine cabinets made of DNA thanks to an advance in 鈥淒NA origami鈥�.
of the Centre for DNA Nanotechnology at Aarhus University, Denmark, and colleagues have created a self-assembling DNA 鈥渂ox鈥� which can be opened with DNA 鈥渒eys鈥�. One day, such structures could be filled with drugs, injected into the blood, and then unlocked when and where the drugs are required.
Three years ago, Paul Rothemund at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena created a map of the Americas using nothing but DNA. His technique exploited the fact that complementary DNA bases attach to each other. He used small sections of DNA to 鈥渟ew鈥� two parts of a longer single DNA strand together, creating folds to carve out the map鈥檚 shape.
Advertisement
Now Kjems鈥檚 team have created the first piece of 3D DNA origami, by sewing six 2D surfaces together to form a cuboid that measures 42 nanometres by 36nm by 36nm (Nature, ).
Crucially, the box has a detachable lid that is kept in place by a security strand of DNA. The keys are built from a strand of DNA that displaces this security strand because it binds more strongly to the sequence of bases on the lid. This unlocks the box.
Such keys could be used to unlock a cancer drug-filled DNA box at a tumour site. As they can be designed to open only if more than one key is used, or with one of a number of keys, they could also be used as logic gates in future computers.
