Spherical nucleic acid

Figure 1. Three important classes of nucleic acids: one-dimensional linear, two-dimensional circular, and three-dimensional spherical.[1]

Spherical nucleic acids (SNAs)[1] are nanostructures that consist of a densely packed, highly oriented arrangement of linear nucleic acids in a three-dimensional, spherical geometry. This novel three-dimensional architecture is responsible for many of the SNA's novel chemical, biological, and physical properties that make it useful in biomedicine and materials synthesis. SNAs were first introduced in 1996[2] by Chad Mirkin’s group at Northwestern University.

  1. ^ a b Cutler JI, Auyeung E, Mirkin CA (January 2012). "Spherical nucleic acids". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 134 (3): 1376–1391. doi:10.1021/ja209351u. PMID 22229439. S2CID 13676422.
  2. ^ Mirkin CA, Letsinger RL, Mucic RC, Storhoff JJ (August 1996). "A DNA-based method for rationally assembling nanoparticles into macroscopic materials". Nature. 382 (6592): 607–609. Bibcode:1996Natur.382..607M. doi:10.1038/382607a0. PMID 8757129. S2CID 4284601.