Figure 1.

Construction of nanotubes from a DNA origami sheet. (A) Typical configuration of a section of DNA origami sheet. Blue line represents scaffold strand, with arrows indicating 5′ to 3′ direction. Light blue and dark blue cylinders indicate DNA duplexes with rightward and leftward polarity respectively. Coloured lines represent staple strands. Inset: Section showing a typical staple double crossover. (B) Schematic demonstrating how a DNA origami sheet can be ‘rolled’ into a tube by connecting the first and last duplex with crossovers. (C) Along-axis view of several DNA origami nanotubes with different number of duplexes, depicted as circles. (D) Intrinsically curved sheets form nanotubes with a well-defined inside and outside surface, but if radial symmetry is preserved, the tubes are chiral. (E) Along-axis view of pleated nanotube structures.