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Computational and Experimental Characterization of RNA Cubic Nanoscaffolds
Methods
  • Kirill A Afonin, National Cancer Institute
  • Wojciech K Kasprzak, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research
  • Eckart Bindewald, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research
  • Praneet S Puppala, National Cancer Institute
  • Alex R Diehl, National Cancer Institute
  • Kenneth T Hall, National Cancer Institute
  • Tae Jin Kim, National Cancer Institute
  • Michael T Zimmermann, Iowa State University
  • Robert L Jernigan, Iowa State University
  • Luc Jaeger, University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Bruce A Shapiro, National Cancer Institute
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Accepted Manuscript
Publication Date
5-15-2014
DOI
10.1016/j.ymeth.2013.10.013
Abstract

The fast-developing field of RNA nanotechnology requires the adoption and development of novel and faster computational approaches to modeling and characterization of RNA-based nano-objects. We report the first application of Elastic Network Modeling (ENM), a structure-based dynamics model, to RNA nanotechnology. With the use of an Anisotropic Network Model (ANM), a type of ENM, we characterize the dynamic behavior of non-compact, multi-stranded RNA-based nanocubes that can be used as nano-scale scaffolds carrying different functionalities. Modeling the nanocubes with our tool NanoTiler and exploring the dynamic characteristics of the models with ANM suggested relatively minor but important structural modifications that enhanced the assembly properties and thermodynamic stabilities. In silico and in vitro, we compared nanocubes having different numbers of base pairs per side, showing with both methods that the 10 bp-long helix design leads to more efficient assembly, as predicted computationally. We also explored the impact of different numbers of single-stranded nucleotide stretches at each of the cube corners and showed that cube flexibility simulations help explain the differences in the experimental assembly yields, as well as the measured nanomolecule sizes and melting temperatures. This original work paves the way for detailed computational analysis of the dynamic behavior of artificially designed multi-stranded RNA nanoparticles.

Comments

This is a manuscript of an article published as Afonin, Kirill A., Wojciech Kasprzak, Eckart Bindewald, Praneet S. Puppala, Alex R. Diehl, Kenneth T. Hall, Tae Jin Kim et al. "Computational and experimental characterization of RNA cubic nanoscaffolds." Methods 67, no. 2 (2014): 256-265. 10.1016/j.ymeth.2013.10.013. Posted with permission.

Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International
Copyright Owner
Elsevier Inc.
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
Kirill A Afonin, Wojciech K Kasprzak, Eckart Bindewald, Praneet S Puppala, et al.. "Computational and Experimental Characterization of RNA Cubic Nanoscaffolds" Methods Vol. 67 Iss. 2 (2014) p. 256 - 265
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/robert-jernigan/36/