Applying dynamic light scattering to investigate the self-assembly process of DNA nanostructures

Understanding the dynamic assembly process of DNA nanostructures is important for developing novel strategy to design and construct functional devices. In this work, temperature-controlled dynamic light scattering (DLS) strategy has been applied to study the global assembly process of DNA origami and DNA bricks. Through the temperature dependent size and intensity profiles, the self-assembly process of various DNA nanostructures with different morphologies have been well-studied and the temperature transition ranges could be observed. Taking advantage of the DLS information, rapid preparation of the DNA origami and the brick assembly has been realized through a constant temperature annealing. Our results demonstrate that the DLS-based strategy provides a convenient and robust tool to study the dynamic process of forming hieratical DNA structures, which will benefit understanding the mechanism of self-assembly of DNA nanostructures.