A Dynamically Programmable Molecular Capture System.

This system consists of two cassettes containing independently programmable PX-JX2 devices that are inserted into a DNA origami.  They face each other, and they contain sticky ends that are different on two different helical domains.  This design leads to four different states of sticky ends, and hence the system can capture four different molecular species.  The capture system is shown below.

In each of the four cases, two PX-JX2 cassettes that face each other are shown anchored in a blue origami array beneath them by two green domains.  The sticky ends are indicated as A and B (left), or C and D (right).  Their relative positions are established by the state (PX or JX2) of the cassettes.  The four different capture molecules are shown to have sticky ends with primed labels that are complementary to the pairs of sticky ends on the cassettes.  The pattern is established by the top domain of the capture molecules.

The origami, cassettes and the capture molecules are shown schematically in (a) below, and in atomic force micrographs in (b) below.

There is an inherent error rate, because a half-right molecule can bind, as well as a completely wrong molecule.  This is corrected by the error-free binding protocol below.

 

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