Issue 36, 2018

Performing DNA nanotechnology operations on a zebrafish

Abstract

Nanoscale engineering of surfaces is becoming an indispensable technique to modify membranes and, thus cellular behaviour. Here, such membrane engineering related was explored on the surface of a living animal using DNA nanotechnology. We demonstrate the immobilization of oligonucleotides functionalized with a membrane anchor on 2 day old zebrafish. The protruding single-stranded DNA on the skin of zebrafish served as a handle for complementary DNAs, which allowed the attachment of small molecule cargo, liposomes and dynamic relabeling by DNA hybridization protocols. Robust anchoring of the oligonucleotides was proven as DNA-based amplification processes were successfully performed on the outer membrane of the zebrafish enabling the multiplication of surface functionalities from a single DNA-anchoring unit and the dramatic improvement of fluorescent labeling of these animals. As zebrafish are becoming an alternative to animal models in drug development, toxicology and nanoparticles characterization, we believe the platform presented here allows amalgamation of DNA nanotechnology tools with live animals and this opens up yet unexplored avenues like efficient bio-barcoding as well as in vivo tracking.

Graphical abstract: Performing DNA nanotechnology operations on a zebrafish

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
18 Apr 2018
Accepted
16 Jul 2018
First published
20 Jul 2018
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2018,9, 7271-7276

Performing DNA nanotechnology operations on a zebrafish

J. Yang, Z. Meng, Q. Liu, Y. Shimada, R. C. L. Olsthoorn, H. P. Spaink, A. Herrmann and A. Kros, Chem. Sci., 2018, 9, 7271 DOI: 10.1039/C8SC01771A

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