Functional Nucleic Acids for DNA Nanotechnology - DNA Nanotechnology: From Structure to Function - page 5

Chapter 2
Functional Nucleic Acids for DNA
Nanotechnology

Yishun Huang, Zhi Zhu, and Chaoyong Yang

Abstract Today, DNA emerged as a fundamental and intelligent molecule to assist
construction and functionalization of nanodevices in the field of nanotechnology.
Besides the powerful base-pair molecular recognition property utilized to control the
final structure and function of materials, the ligand-binding capability and catalytic
property offered by a large number of functional nucleic acids have stimulated
the enthusiasm and creativity for molecular scientists from various disciplines to
construct more intelligent DNA nanostructures and nanodevices. If the double helix
is the core of DNA nanotechnology, functional nucleic acids are the active surfaces
which take the role of interacting with peripheral environments. In this chapter,
concept and basic property of functional nucleic acids are introduced, followed by
a review of the application of functional nucleic acids in DNA nanotechnology.

Keywords Functional nucleic acid • DNA nanotechnology • DNA aptamers
• DNAzymes • DNA origami • Biosensing • Drug delivery • DNA nanodevices

2.1 Introduction

DNA nanotechnology is an emerging interdiscipline involving DNA nanosensor,
DNA nanostructure, DNA nanomachine, etc. The core principle of DNA nanotech-
nology is Watson-Crick base pairing. The principle was first exploited by Seeman's
group to create stable branched DNA structures [ 1 - 4 ]. To avoid the flexibility
of the branched junctions, which may destroy the periodicity of the resulting

Y. Huang • Z. Zhu • C. Yang ( )
State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, The Key Laboratory
for Chemical Biology of Fujian Province, Key Laboratory of Analytical Science and Department
of Chemical Biology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University,
Xiamen 361005, China
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