Zinc-finger proteins act as site-specific adapters for DNA-origami structures
Thursday, February 2, 2012 - 09:30
in Biology & Nature
(PhysOrg.com) -- DNA is not merely a carrier of genetic information; DNA is a useful building material for nanoscale structures. In a way similar to origami, the Japanese art of paper folding, a long single strand of DNA can be folded into nearly any three-dimensional shape desired with the use of short DNA fragments. The DNA nanostructure can also be equipped with specific docking sites for proteins. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a team led by Takashi Morii at the University of Kyoto (Japan) has now introduced a new method for attaching the proteins by means of special adapters known as zinc-finger proteins.