DNA nanocomposite as functional materials in cells and cell-free systems

DNA hydrogels are a new class of biomaterials with great potential for a wide range of biotechnological applications and have recently been further developed into complex DNA nanocomposites originating from DNA-functionalized silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). These materials are characterized by the unique properties of nucleic acids, such as molecular recognition, programmability and excellent biocompatibility, and can be tuned regarding properties such as stiffness by adjusting the ratio of the composites’ starting materials. These properties enable applications in cell culture as well as use as a new material for cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS).
The presented work investigates the scope of a recently developed composite material, which is synthesized using nanoparticles as the starting point of the polymerization of long DNA single strands, which are produced by rolling circle amplification (RCA). The integration of plasmids coding for fluorescent marker proteins provides SiNP/CNT-DNA composites with genetic transcribable information. Flow cytometry and confocal microscopy showed that the materials are very efficiently taken up by different eukaryotic cell lines, which can continue to divide while the ingested material is evenly distributed among the daughter cells. ... mehrAlthough the encoded protein was not expressed in the living cells, the composites proved to be efficient templates for CFPS with eukaryotic cell lysate. This work contributes to the understanding of the molecular interactions between DNA composites and the functional cellular machinery.