Recently, at the invitation of the new journal in the Nature series Nature Methods Reviews Primers, Prof. Chunhai Fan, along with well-known scholars all over the world in the field of DNA nanotechnology, including Prof. Hao Yan from Arizona State University, Prof. Chenxiang Lin from Yale University, Prof. Friedrich C. Simmel from Technical University of Munich, Prof. Barbara Saccà from Duisburg-Essen University, Prof. Na Liu from Max Planck Institute, Prof. Kurt V. Gothelf from Aarhus University and Researcher Jiang Li from Shanghai Institute for Advanced Study, Chinese Academy of Sciences/Zhangjiang Laboratory, co-authored the field-guide review entitled DNA origami, which was published on the inaugural issue of the journal in January 2021 (https://doi.org/10.1038/s43586-020-00009-8). At the same time, the editor distributed PrimeView for introduction and recommendation. -+


Nature Reviews Primers usually invites a group of leading transregional and interdisciplinary scientists to co-write articles on one important topic, aiming to provide a wider audience with the development, methods and applications of the topic.

DNA origami published on the first issue of Nature Methods Reviews Primers

 
This review summarizes the methodologies of DNA origami technology, including origami design, synthesis, functionalization and characterization. It highlights applications of origami structures in nanofabrication, nanophotonics and nanoelectronics, catalysis, computation, molecular machines, bioimaging, drug delivery and biophysics. It identifies challenges for the field, including size limits, stability issues and the scale of production, and discusses their possible solutions. It further provides an outlook on next-generation DNA origami techniques that will allow in vivo synthesis and multiscale manufacturing.

The review proposes an outlook on DNA origami technology. For instance, introduce modular, computer-aided design and automated fabrication, and extend these concepts to other macromolecule micro-nano manufacturing fields; construct multi-scale(from sub-nanoscale to centimeter scale) accurate DNA structures; manufacture intelligent DNA or RNA robots which could function in vivo and realize applications of diagnosis and treatment. It can be expected that the publication of this review in the fifteenth year of the birth of DNA origami will promote further development of DNA origami technology, attract scholars from different fields, and catalyze more theoretical and technological innovations so as to facilitate the applications and breakthroughs of DNA nanotechnology in interdisciplinary subjects.

Author: Fan’s lab

Translator: Chenyun SUN