DNA pillars constructed from an i-motif stem and duplex branches

Abstract

At an acidic pH, cytosine-rich DNA strands can form i-motif tetramers. Pillar-like DNA structures are self-assembled with such i-motifs as the central stems. The central stem has some overhanging structures that can enable hybridization with complementary units by Watson-Crick pairing and, thus, multiple i-motifs can join to form the pillar.