DNA hydrogel is a promising biomaterial for biological and medical applications due to its native biocompatibility and biodegradability. Herein, we provide a novel, versatile, and cost-effective approach for self-assembly of DNA hydrogel using the enzymatically polymerized DNA building blocks. The X-shaped DNA motif was elongated by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) to form the building blocks, and hybridization between dual building blocks via their complementary TdT-polymerized DNA tails led to gel formation. TdT polymerization dramatically reduced the required amount of original DNA motifs, and the hybridization-mediated cross-linking of building blocks endows the gel with high mechanical strength. The DNA hydrogel can be applied for encapsulation and controllable release of protein cargos (for instance, green fluorescent protein) due to its enzymatic responsive properties. Moreover, this versatile strategy was extended to construct a functional DNAzyme hydrogel by integrating the peroxidase-mimicking DNAzyme into DNA motifs. Furthermore, a hybrid cascade enzymatic reaction system was constructed by coencapsulating glucose oxidase and β-galactosidase into DNAzyme hydrogel. This efficient cascade reaction provides not only a potential method for glucose/lactose detection by naked eye but also a promising modular platform for constructing a multiple enzyme or enzyme/DNAzyme hybrid system.
Keywords: DNA hydrogel; cascade reaction; multiple-enzyme system; protein encapsulation; self-assembly.