Figure 1.

Enzyme-mediated assembly of RNA onto a universal SNA scaffold. (a) SNA consisting of a gold nanoparticle core modified with a DNA “anchor” oligonucleotide (1). A second DNA oligonucleotide, the DNA “bridge” (2a), is complementary to the 3′ end of 1. Upon hybridization with 1, the sticky end generated by the DNA bridge (2a) is used to guide the hybridization and assembly of the 5′ end of an RNA (3a) to the SNA surface. For siRNA sequences, this strand is the RNA sense strand of an siRNA duplex. (B) By changing the sequence of the sticky end of the DNA bridge at its 3′ end (2b), it can be made complementary to the 5′ end of a different RNA oligonucleotide (3b), thus allowing different RNA sequences to be assembled on an SNA passivated with the same DNA anchor (1).