3D Walking Nanomachine for Monitoring of miRNA in Living Cells

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) DNA walking nanomachines have been widely applied in molecular diagnostics and cancer therapy. Specially, DNA dendrimer with 3D nanostructure has gained increasing attention in biomedical applications because of its high biostability, excellent programmability, and outstanding biocompatibility. In this chapter, we developed a 3D DNA walking nanomachine by assembling all nanomachine components (DNAzyme and substrate) onto a DNA dendrimer for miRNA imaging in living cells. In this design, the number of DNAzyme and substrate on the surface of the DNA dendrimer could be precisely regulated to fully implement the function of the DNA nanomachine.

Keywords: 3D DNA walking nanomachine; Cell imaging; DNA dendrimer; DNAzyme; miRNA.