Stepwise Assembly of DNA Nanostructures in a Surface-Based Method

Hierarchical assembly of DNA nanostructures has already led to superstructures of ever-increasing level of complexity. Processing control in building nanostructures hierarchically is desirable but remains underexplored. Here, we present the stepwise assembly of DNA origami nanostructures by a surface-based method. With solid support of magnetic beads or glass slides, we demonstrate hierarchical assembly of preformed DNA origami units to a number of superstructures. The anchoring of DNA constructs on the surface results in better programmability and controllability for DNA self-assembly, suggesting a potential for our surface-based strategy to become a general and standardized assembly methodology of DNA nanostructures and beyond.