Paper Highlights

Construction of a structurally defined double-stranded DNA catenane

T. L. Schmidt, A. Heckel

Nano Lett. 2011, DOI:10.1021/nl200303m

Topologically interlocked structures like catenanes and rotaxanes are promising components for the construction of molecular machines and motors. Herein we describe the construction of double-stranded DNA catenanes for DNA nanotechnology. For this, C-shaped DNA minicircle fragments were equipped with sequence-specific DNA-binding polyamides and their respective binding site. Formation of catenanes is achieved by self-assembly of two of these fragments and subsequent addition of a ring-closing oligonucleotide.