ABSTRACT
Macromolecules of DNA, RNA, and proteins have intrinsically defined features on the nanoscale and may serve as powerful building blocks for the bottom-up fabrication of nanostructures and nanodevices. The field of DNA nanotechnology (Aldaye et al., 2008; Lin et al., 2009; Seeman, 2010) is now well established, having its origins in the work by Seeman some 30 years ago, and peptides and proteins have also been studied for applications in nanotechnology (Moll et al., 2002; Cui et al., 2009; Adler-Abramovich et al., 2009; Knowles et al., 2010). The concept of RNA nanotechnology (Guo et al., 1998; Zhang et al., 1998; Jaeger and Leontis, 2000; Jaeger et al., 2001; Shu et al., 2004; Chworos et al., 2004; Guo, 2005; Jaeger and Chworos, 2006) has been around for more than a decade, and the first evidence for the construction of RNA nanoparticles through the self-assembly of several re-engineered natural RNA molecules was reported in 1998 (Guo et al., 1998). However, interest in RNA nanotechnology has increased in recent years as recognition of its potential for applications in nanomedicine-including the treatment of cancer, viral infection, and genetic diseases-has grown (Figure 1.1).
