The elastic features of protein filaments are encoded in their component units and in the way they are connected, thus defining a biunivocal relationship between the monomer and the result of its self-assembly. Using DNA origami approaches, we constructed a reconfigurable module, composed of two quasi-independent domains and four possible interfaces, capable of facial and lateral growing through specific recognition patterns. Whereas the flexibility of the intra-domains region can be regulated by switchable DNA motifs, the inter-domain interfaces feature mutually and self-complementary shapes, whose pairwise association leads to filaments of programmable periodicity and variable persistence length. Thus, we show here that the assembly pathway leading to oligomeric chains can be finely tuned and fully controlled, enabling the emulation of protein-like filaments using a single construction principle. Our approach results in artificial materials with a large variety of ultrastructures and bending strengths comparable, or even superior, to their natural counterparts.

中文翻译：

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具有设计者弹性特性的DNA细丝的分层装配

蛋白丝的弹性特征被编码在它们的组成单元中，并以它们被连接的方式被编码，从而在单体及其自组装结果之间定义了一种双向的关系。使用DNA折纸方法，我们构建了一个可重构模块，该模块由两个准独立域和四个可能的界面组成，能够通过特定的识别模式进行面部和侧面生长。尽管域内区域的柔韧性可以通过可切换的DNA图案进行调节，但域间界面却具有相互互补的形状，其成对缔合导致了可编程周期和可变长度的长丝。因此，我们在这里表明，可以对导致寡聚链的组装途径进行微调和完全控制，使用单一构造原理即可模拟蛋白状细丝。我们的方法产生的人造材料具有各种超微结构和抗弯强度，可与自然材料相比甚至更高。