DNA strand displacement is widely used in DNA-related nanoengineering for its remarkable specificity and predictability. We report a nicking enzyme-assisted mechanism to regulate strand displacement, where DNA toeholds are dynamically controlled. To demonstrate the strategy, a protein/DNA-based Boolean operation system is constructed and based on it a two-channel multiplexer controlled by three different nicking enzymes is realized. The proposed regulatory mechanism can be used for switch logic statement and bridges protein and DNA logic circuits.

Sequential DNA detection is a fundamental issue for elucidating the interactive relationships among complex gene systems. Here, a sequential logic DNA gate was achieved by utilizing the two-ring DNA structure, with the ability to recognize “before” and “after” triggering sequences of DNA signals. By taking advantage of a “loop-open” mechanism, separations of two-ring DNAs were controlled. Three triggering pathways with different sequential DNA treatments were distinguished by comparing fluorescent outputs. Programmed nanoparticle arrangement guided by “interlocked” two-ring DNA was also constructed to demonstrate the achievement of designed nanostrucutres. Such sequential logic DNA operation may guide future molecular sensors to monitor more complex gene network in biological systems.Keywords: DNA logic gate; gold nanoparticle; interlocked structure; sequential detection; two-ring DNA

In molecular engineering, DNA molecules have been extensively studied owing to their capacity for accurate structural control and complex programmability. Recent studies have shown that the versatility and predictability of DNA origami make it an excellent platform for constructing nanodevices. In this study, we developed a strand-displacing strategy to selectively and dynamically release specific gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) on a rectangular DNA origami. A set of DNA logic gates (“OR”, “AND”, and “three-input majority gate”) were established based on this strategy, in which computing results were identified by disassembly between the AuNPs and DNA origami. The computing results were detected using experimental approaches such as gel electrophoresis and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). This method can be used to assemble more complex nanosystems and may have potential applications for molecular engineering.Keywords: DNA origami; DNA/Au conjugate; logic gate; strand displacement; transmission electron microscopy

In this study, an aptamer-substrate strategy is introduced to control programmable DNA origami pattern. Combined with DNA aptamer-substrate binding and DNAzyme-cutting, small DNA tiles were specifically controlled to fill into the predesigned DNA origami frame. Here, a set of DNA logic gates (OR, YES, and AND) are performed in response to the stimuli of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and cocaine. The experimental results are confirmed by AFM imaging and time-dependent fluorescence changes, demonstrating that the geometric patterns are regulated in a controllable and programmable manner. Our approach provides a new platform for engineering programmable origami nanopatterns and constructing complex DNA nanodevices.Keywords: aptamer; DNA origami; DNAzyme; logic gate; tile filling;

DNA computing, currently a hot research field in information processing, has the advantages of parallelism, low energy consumption, and high storability; therefore, it has been applied to a variety of complicated computational problems. The emerging field of DNA nanotechnology has also developed quickly; within it, the method of DNA strand displacement has drawn great attention because it is self-induced, sensitive, accurate, and operationally simple. This article summarizes five aspects of the recent developments of DNA-strand displacement in DNA computing: (1) cascading circuits; (2) catalyzed reaction; (3) logic computation; (4) DNA computing on surfaces; and (5) logic computing based on nanoparticles guided by strand displacement. The applications and mechanisms of strand displacement in DNA computing are discussed and possible future developments are presented.

Recently, the toehold-mediated DNA strand displacement reaction has been widely used in detecting molecular signals. However, traditional strand displacement, without cooperative signaling among DNA inputs, is insufficient for the design of more complicated nanodevices. In this work, a logic computing system is established using the cooperative “binding-induced” mechanism, based on the AuNP-based beacons, in which five kinds of multiple-input logic gates have been constructed. This system can recognize DNA and protein streptavidin simultaneously. Finally, the manipulations of the logic system are also demonstrated by controlling programmed conjugate DNA/AuNP clusters. This study provides the possibility of detecting multiple input signals and designing complex nanodevices that can be potentially applied to the detection of multiple molecular targets and the construction of large-scale DNA-based computation.Keywords: binding-induced strand displacement; DNA self-assembly; fluorescent beacon; gold nanoparticle; logical computing

With the progress of DNA computing, DNA-based cryptography becomes an emerging interdisciplinary research field. In this paper, we present a novel DNA cryptography that takes advantage of DNA self-assembled structure. Making use of the toehold strands recognition and strand displacement, the bit-wise exclusive-or (XOR) operation is carried out to fulfill the information encryption and decryption in the form of a one-time-pad. The security of this system mainly comes from the physical isolation and specificity of DNA molecules. The system is constructed by using complex DNA self-assembly, in which technique of fluorescent detection is utilized to implement the signal processing. In the proposed DNA cryptography, the XOR operation at each bit is carried out individually, thus the encryption and decryption process could be conducted in a massive, parallel way. This work may demonstrate that DNA cryptography has the great potential applications in the field of information security.

A mechanism is developed to construct a logic system by employing DNA/gold nanoparticle (AuNP) conjugates as a basic work unit, utilizing a fluorescent beacon probe to detect output signals. To implement the logic circuit, a self-assembly DNA structure is attached onto nanoparticles to form the fluorescent beacon. Moreover, assisted by regulation of multilevel strand displacement, cascaded logic gates are achieved. The computing results are detected by methods using fluorescent signals, gel electrophoresis and transmission electron microscope (TEM). This work is expected to demonstrate the feasibility of the cascaded logic system based on fluorescent nanoparticle beacons, suggesting applications in DNA computation and biotechnology.Keywords: cascaded logic gate; fluorescent nanoparticle beacon; fluorescent signals; multilevel strand displacement; PAGE analysis; TEM image;

A logical switching MB is established, with an “ON/OFF” switching function. In this study, thiolated DNA can participate as a switching controller to regulate the fluorescent increments of other DNA input signals. Assisted by gold nanoparticles and DNA branch migration, one and two-switch systems have been achieved.

Here, we present a strategy to trigger monovalent attachments of thoilated hairpin DNA onto AuNP, assisted by molecular binding. Without binding helper strands, it is hard to control the attachments of thiolated hairpin DNA, because of spatial hindrances. By introducing a binding helper strand, the thiol-group can be brought into close proximity to the surface of AuNPs, which will greatly increase the local molecular concentration and attaching efficiency. In the experiments, the strategy is verified by the methods of DNA strand branch migration and dynamic assembly of AuNPs clusters. In addition, unique and complex AuNPs clusters with well-defined arrangements of DNA scaffolds are produced. Using this method, it is able to selectively manipulate and control different kinds and numbers of DNA attaching onto AuNPs. Our strategy also could be extended to assembling large complicated DNA/AuNPs programmable structures and nanodevices.

Tissue P systems with symport/antiport rules are a class of distributed parallel computing models inspired by the cell intercommunication in tissues, where objects are never modified in the process of communication, just changing their place within the system. In this work, a variant of tissue P systems, called tissue P systems with evolutional symport/antiport rules is introduced, where objects are moved from one region to another region and may be evolved during this process. The computational power of such P systems is studied. Specifically, it is proved that such P systems with one cell and using evolutional symport rules of length at most 3 or using evolutional antiport rules of length at most 4 are Turing universal (only the family of all finite sets of positive integers can be generated by such P systems if standard symport/antiport rules are used). Moreover, cell division rules are considered in tissue P systems with evolutional symport/antiport rules, and a limit on the efficiency of such P systems is provided with evolutional communication rules of length at most 2. The computational efficiency of this kind of models is shown when using evolutional communication rules of length at most 4.

A logical switching MB is established, with an “ON/OFF” switching function. In this study, thiolated DNA can participate as a switching controller to regulate the fluorescent increments of other DNA input signals. Assisted by gold nanoparticles and DNA branch migration, one and two-switch systems have been achieved.