Nanowerk October 22, 2022
Bottom-up engineering of synthetic condensates advances our understanding of the organizing principle of condensates. It also enables the synthesis of artificial systems with novel functions. However, building synthetic condensates with a predictable organization and function remains challenging. Researchers in South Korea used DNA as a building block to create synthetic condensates that are assembled through phase separation. The programmability of intermolecular interactions between DNA molecules enabled the control over various condensate properties including assembly, composition, and function. Similar to the way intracellular condensates are organized, DNA clients were selectively partitioned into cognate condensates. They demonstrated how the synthetic condensates accelerate DNA strand displacement reactions and logic gate operations by concentrating specific reaction components. According to the researchers the DNA-based condensates could help to build high-order functions required to build more life-like artificial systems…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
The control of condensation and dissolution of the DNA condensate. Credit: SCIENCE ADVANCES, 14 Oct 2022, Vol 8, Issue 41