Herein we report a general approach to fold single-stranded, long RNA molecules into predesigned, geometric structures at the nanometer scale. It conceptually resembles DNA origami technique,but uses single stranded RNA molecules as scaffolds. An ultrafast isothermal assembly protocol was employed to allow RNA-DNA hybrid origami structures being assembled within minutes at 65 �C. The assembled nanostructures have been unambiguously demonstrated by agarose gel electrophoresis and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The current approach points to the possibility of construction of RNA nanostructures that contain a wide range of tertiary structures and functions uniquely associated with RNAs but not DNAs in an ultrafast isothermal approach.                                                                 

RNA origami: Folding long RNA single strands into complex nanostructures via ultrafast isothermal assembly

246th National Meeting (2013)

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