Mechanically rigid supramolecular assemblies formed from an Fmoc-guanine conjugated peptide nucleic acid

Nat Commun. 2019 Nov 20;10(1):5256. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-13250-x.

Abstract

The variety and complexity of DNA-based structures make them attractive candidates for nanotechnology, yet insufficient stability and mechanical rigidity, compared to polyamide-based molecules, limit their application. Here, we combine the advantages of polyamide materials and the structural patterns inspired by nucleic-acids to generate a mechanically rigid fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl (Fmoc)-guanine peptide nucleic acid (PNA) conjugate with diverse morphology and photoluminescent properties. The assembly possesses a unique atomic structure, with each guanine head of one molecule hydrogen bonded to the Fmoc carbonyl tail of another molecule, generating a non-planar cyclic quartet arrangement. This structure exhibits an average stiffness of 69.6 ± 6.8 N m-1 and Young's modulus of 17.8 ± 2.5 GPa, higher than any previously reported nucleic acid derived structure. This data suggests that the unique cation-free "basket" formed by the Fmoc-G-PNA conjugate can serve as an attractive component for the design of new materials based on PNA self-assembly for nanotechnology applications.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • DNA
  • Elastic Modulus
  • Fluorenes / chemistry*
  • Guanine / chemistry*
  • Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
  • Models, Molecular
  • Nanostructures / chemistry
  • Nanostructures / ultrastructure*
  • Nanotechnology
  • Peptide Nucleic Acids / chemistry
  • Peptide Nucleic Acids / ultrastructure*

Substances

  • Fluorenes
  • Peptide Nucleic Acids
  • Guanine
  • DNA