Fig. 2. Schematic representation of SQ (left panels) and SR (right panels) dimers templated using a DNA Holliday junction and their corresponding steady-state absorption, fluorescence emission, and CD spectra.

a Representative schematic of the four-armed DNA Holliday junction used to template the formation of monomers and transverse dimers. The schematic is intended to depict the positions of the attached dyes in the DNA sequences, not the conformation of the Holliday junction. Serinol linkers that attach dyes to the DNA backbone (Supplementary Note 1) are not shown. b, c Steady-state absorption spectra and fluorescence emission spectra for the SQ and SR dimer solutions. Absorption spectra and fluorescence emission spectra are also shown for the corresponding monomer solutions. To account for differences in the amount of light absorbed by each solution, the measured spectra were divided by the absorptance of each solution at the excitation wavelength. The spectra of the monomer solutions were thereafter normalized to the shortest wavelength band, and the spectra of the corresponding dimer solutions were scaled using the same factor. d, e CD spectra for the SQ and SR dimer solutions. The CD spectra of the corresponding monomer solutions are achiral and therefore featureless in the same spectral region and have been omitted.