Methods of making nucleic acid nanostructures

A nucleic acid nanostructure comprising:

• at least one unit, the unit comprising,
• a single scaffold polynucleotide strand scaffold;
• and
• a plurality of helper/staple strands each being designed to be at least partially complementary to the single stranded polynucleotide scaffold such that the helper/staple strands self anneal with the single stranded polynucleotide scaffold into a structural unit, wherein a subset of oligonucleotide helper/staple strands are chosen to bind the polynucleotide scaffold in two or more regions and bring these separate regions of the polynucleotide scaffold together to form a desired bend in the polynucleotide scaffold and wherein a subset of the oligonucleotide helper/staple strands are chosen to have binding sites that constrain crossovers and contact points between helices to form desired angles commensurate with the helical twist of the chosen type of scaffold:helper/staple strand duplex and wherein the nanostructure comprises a conductive nanomaterial.

A three-dimensional nucleic acid nanostructure cage comprising:

• at least one unit, the unit comprising,
• a single scaffold polynucleotide strand scaffold;
• and
• a plurality of helper/staple strands each being designed to be at least partially complementary to the single stranded polynucleotide scaffold such that the helper/staple strands self anneal with the single stranded polynucleotide scaffold into a structural unit, wherein a subset of oligonucleotide helper/staple strands are chosen to bind the polynucleotide scaffold in two or more regions and bring these separate regions of the polynucleotide scaffold together to form a desired bend in the polynucleotide scaffold and wherein a subset of the oligonucleotide helper/staple strands are chosen to have binding sites that constrain crossovers and contact points between helices to form desired angles commensurate with the helical twist of the chosen type of scaffold:helper/staple strand duplex to form a cage and a biological agent encapsulated within the cage.