Bioactive Fibronectin-III <sub>10</sub> –DNA Origami Nanofibers Promote Cell Adhesion and Spreading
Alex Buchberger, Kyle D. Riker, Julio Bernal‐Chanchavac, Raghu Pradeep Narayanan, C.R. Simmons, Nour Eddine Fahmi, Ronit Freeman, Nicholas Stephanopoulos
Abstract
The integration of proteins with DNA nanotechnology would enable materials with diverse applications in biology, medicine, and engineering. Here, we describe a method for the incorporation of bioactive fibronectin domain proteins with DNA nanostructures using two orthogonal coiled-coil peptides. One peptide from each coiled-coil pair is attached to a DNA origami cuboid in a multivalent fashion by attaching the peptides to DNA handles. These structures can then be assembled into one-dimensional arrays through the addition of a fibronectin domain linker genetically fused with the complementary peptides to those on the origami. We validate array formation using two different self-assembly protocols and characterize the fibers by atomic force and electron microscopy. Finally, we demonstrate that surfaces coated with the protein-DNA nanofibers can serve as biomaterial substrates for fibroblast adhesion and spreading with the nanofibers showing enhanced bioactivity compared to that of the monomeric protein.