The effect of crossovers on the stability of DNA origami type nanocarriers

Design and simulation of a wireframe DNA origami nanoactuator

This paper explores the use of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) origami structures as nanorobot components. Investigating the functional properties of DNA origami structures can facilitate the fabrication of DNA origami-based nanorobots. The wireframe structure stands out as one of the most interesting DNA origami structures. Hence, the present study aims to employ these structures to create DNA origami nanoactuators. The research delves into the design of DNA origami structures with the aim of opening under specific temperature conditions. Short DNA strands (staples) are one of the crucial parts of DNA origami structures, and the appropriate design of these strands can lead to the creation of structures with different properties. Thus, the components of the DNA origami nanoactuator are tailored to enable intentional opening at specific temperatures while maintaining stability at lower temperatures. This structural modification showcases the functional property of the DNA origami structure. The engineered DNA origami nanoactuator holds potential applications in medicine. By carrying drugs under specific temperature conditions and releasing them under different temperature conditions, it can serve as a platform for smart drug delivery purposes.

Design, molecular dynamics simulation, and investigation of the mechanical behavior of DNA origami nanotubes with auxetic and honeycomb structures

Numerous applications of DNA origami nanotubes for load-bearing purposes necessitate the improvement of properties and mechanical behavior of these types of structures, as well as the use of innovative structures such as metamaterials. To this end, the present study aims to investigate the design, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, and mechanical behavior of DNA origami nanotube structures consisting of honeycomb and re-entrant auxetic cross-sections. The results revealed both structures kept their structural stability. In addition, DNA origami based-nanotube with auxetic cross-section exhibits negative Poisson's ratio (NPR) under tensile loading. Furthermore, MD simulation results demonstrated that the values of stiffness, specific stiffness, energy absorption, and specific energy absorption in the structure with an auxetic cross-section are higher than that of a honeycomb cross-section, similar to their behavior in macro-scale structures. The finding of this study is to propose re-entrant auxetic structure as the next generation of DNA origami nanotubes. In addition, it can be utilized to aid scientists with the design and fabrication of novel auxetic DNA origami structures.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

A Study on the Bending Stiffness of a New DNA Origami Nano-Joint

The present article aims to investigate the mechanical properties of a new DNA origami nano-joint using the steered molecular dynamics (SMD) simulation. Since the analysis of mechanical properties is of great importance in bending conditions for a nano-joint, the forces are selected to achieve angular changes in the joint by the resultant torque. In this study, the nano-joint is considered as a beam in order to use mechanical equations to extract the mechanical properties of the designed nano-joint. In addition, the bending stiffness of the beam is investigated in different modes of deflection using the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. The results revealed that the value of bending stiffness increases with increasing deflection, and the changes in the bending stiffness relative to the deflection is linear. The proposed DNA origami nano-joint can be used as a joint in nanorobots and can be effectively applied in nanorobotic systems to move different components.