Programming Protein Patterns on DNA Nanostructures

DNA nanotechnology offers the potential for the creation of molecular assemblies with nanometer scale resolution. Although DNA provides an ideal material for the construction of 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional assemblies it lacks the functionality needed for many desired applications. Pyrrole-imidazole polyamides capable of programmable binding to specific DNA sequences provide a unique solution to the challenge of recruiting active biomolecules to a DNA template. Polyamides are capable of binding to a 2-dimensional DNA array and recruiting protein to specific sites on the nanostructure. Multiple polyamides targeted to different sites on a two dimensional array can be used to create unique protein patterns on the same DNA template. Similar efforts to bind to a two-dimensional DNA array directly with the DNA binding protein EGR-1 were done to compare the effectiveness of each approach.