DNA Functional Materials Assembled from Branched DNA: Design, Synthesis, and Applications

DNA is traditionally known as a central genetic biomolecule in living systems. From an alternative perspective, DNA is a versatile molecular building-block for the construction of functional materials, in particular biomaterials, due to its intrinsic biological attributes, molecular recognition capability, sequence programmability, and biocompatibility. The topologies of DNA building-blocks mainly include linear, circular, and branched types. Branched DNA recently has been extensively employed as a versatile building-block to synthesize new biomaterials, and an assortment of promising applications have been explored. In this review, we discuss the progress on DNA functional materials assembled from branched DNA. We first briefly introduce the background information on DNA molecules and sketch the development history of DNA functional materials constructed from branched DNA. In the second part, the synthetic strategies of branched DNA as building-blocks are categorized into base-pairing assembly and chemical bonding. In the third part, construction strategies for the branched DNA-based functional materials are comprehensively summarized including tile-mediated assembly, DNA origami, dynamic assembly, and hybrid assembly. In the fourth part, applications including diagnostics, protein engineering, drug and gene delivery, therapeutics, and cell engineering are demonstrated. In the end, an insight into the challenges and future perspectives is provided. We envision that branched DNA functional materials can not only enrich the DNA nanotechnology by ingenious design and synthesis but also promote the development of interdisciplinary fields in chemistry, biology, medicine, and engineering, ultimately addressing the growing demands on biological and medical-related applications in the real world.