Ligation-induced DNA self-assembly

Ligation is a common treatment for the resulting DNA nanostructures to gain extra stability. In this study, we aim to utilize ligation as an active process in self-assembly instead of post-assembly stabilization. Our investigation focuses on constructs with transiently paired segments. Transient base pairing fails to hold up the assembled complex, but ligation treatment turns the transient base pairing into permanent ones and thus induces the desired self-assembly. We apply the method to a number of assembly tasks, leading to the successful construction of discrete and extended DNA nanostructures. Furthermore, we apply the ligation-based method in the hierarchical assembly of preformed DNA nanostructure units into higher-order superstructures.