Assoc. prof. Ebbe Sloth Andersen, iNANO & Dept. of Molecular Biology, Aarhus University

Biomolecular Nanodevices as Novel Tools for Structural and Synthetic Biology

Rationally designed nanostructures and devices can be efficiently build using the self-assembling properties of biomolecules such as DNA, RNA and proteins. Introduced a decade ago, the DNA origami method provided novel molecular scaffolds to organize nanoparticles [1] and allowed the creation of dynamic nanoscale devices [2]. In recent years progress have been made in designing RNA and protein nanostructures with well-defined geometries [3,4 ] which points towards expanded applications of designer molecules. Biophysical techniques have been instrumental in verifying the structure of the biomolecular nanostructures and have allowed the exploration and development of new design principles. In this talk I will focus on the application of cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) in determining the 3-dimensional structure DNA origami nanostructures and, in turn, how DNA origami scaffolds can be used as tools for cryo-EM by organizing molecules of interest. In the last part of the talk I will introduce our on going research efforts to design RNA origami nanostructures [3] that can be produced during transcription by the RNA polymerase, and to use these as expressible nanostructures for applications in synthetic biology.

References:

[1] Rothemund, P. Folding DNA to create nanoscale shapes and patterns. Nature 440, 297-302 (2006).

[2] Andersen, E. S. et al. Self-assembly of a nanoscale DNA box with a controllable lid. Nature 459, 73-U75 (2009). 

[3] Geary, C., Rothemund, P. W. & Andersen, E. S. A single-stranded architecture for cotranscriptional folding of RNA nanostructures. Science 345, 799-804 (2014).

[4] Koga, N. et al. Principles for designing ideal protein structures. Nature 491, 222-227 (2012). 

Host: Director & professor Jørgen Kjems, iNANO & Dept. of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University