Novel method for stabilizing nucleic acid nanostructures

A method for increasing the stability of a non-naturally occurring nucleic acid nanostructure, wherein said nanostructure comprises at least one single-chain nucleic acid sequence binding to at least two non-contiguous sequence stretches present on one or more complementary nucleic acid sequences, wherein said method is characterized by a step of exposing said nucleic acid nanostructure to UV irradiation.

A method for increasing the stability of a non-naturally occurring nucleic acid nanostructure, wherein said nanostructure comprises at least two double-helical substructures, wherein said method is characterized by a step of exposing said nucleic acid nanostructure to UV irradiation.

A method for increasing the stability of a non-naturally occurring nucleic acid nanostructure comprising a multiplicity of double-helical substructures, wherein said nanostructure comprises at least one single-chain nucleic acid sequence being part of at least two different double-helical substructures, wherein said method is characterized by a step of exposing said nucleic acid nanostructure to UV irradiation.

A kit for the generation of a nucleic acid nanostructure comprising one or more copies of at least a first single-stranded polynucleotide, and a set of single-stranded polynucleotides, wherein each of the single-stranded polynucleotides consists of an n-specific sequence consisting of n core sequences, with n being an integer independently selected from the range of 1 to 40, wherein each of said n core sequences consists of (i) a sequence that is complementary to a region on said first single-stranded polynucleotide, wherein the region complementary to the nth core sequence is not contiguous with the regions complementary to the (n−1)th and (n+1)th core sequence, (ii) a pyrimidine nucleotide stretch Pm, at the 3′ end, (iii) a pyrimidine nucleotide stretch Pm at the 5′ end, and (iv) optionally, one or more insertions of a pyrimidine nucleotide stretch Pm, wherein each m is an integer independently selected from the range of 0 to 40, and wherein each P is independently selected from a thymidine and a cytosine residue.

A kit for the generation of a nucleic acid nanostructure comprising a set of single-stranded oligonucleotides,

• wherein each of the single-stranded polynucleotides consists of an n-specific sequence consisting of n core sequences, with n being an integer independently selected from the range of 1 to 40, wherein each of said n core sequences consists of (i) a sequence that is complementary to the sequence of another member of said set of single-stranded polynucleotides, wherein the region on said another member complementary to the nth core sequence is not contiguous with the regions complementary to the (n−1)th and (n+1)th core sequence, (ii) a pyrimidine nucleotide stretch Pm, at the 3′ end, (iii) a pyrimidine nucleotide stretch Pm at the 5′ end, and (iv) optionally, one or more insertions of a pyrimidine nucleotide stretch Pm,
• wherein each m is an integer independently selected from the range of 0 to 40, and wherein each P is independently selected from a thymidine and a cytosine residue.

A nucleic acid nanostructure comprising one or more copies of at least a first single-stranded polynucleotide, and a set of single-stranded polynucleotides, wherein each of the single-stranded polynucleotides consists of an n-specific sequence consisting of n core sequences, with n being an integer selected from the range of 1 to 40, wherein each of said n core sequences consists of (i) a sequence that is complementary to a region on said first single-stranded polynucleotide, wherein the region complementary to the nth core sequence is not contiguous with the regions complementary to the (n−1)th and (n+1)th core sequence, (ii) a pyrimidine nucleotide stretch Pm, at the 3′ end, (iii) a pyrimidine nucleotide stretch Pm at the 5′ end, and (iv) optionally, one or more insertions of a pyrimidine nucleotide stretch Pm, wherein each m is an integer independently selected from the range of 0 to 40, and wherein each P is independently selected from a thymidine and a cytosine residue.

A nucleic acid nanostructure comprising a set of single-stranded oligonucleotides, wherein each of the single-stranded polynucleotides consists of an n-specific sequence consisting of n core sequences, with n being independently selected from the range of 1 to 40, wherein each of said n core sequences consists of (i) a sequence that is complementary to the sequence of another member of said set of single-stranded polynucleotides, wherein the region on said another member complementary to the nth core sequence is not contiguous with the regions complementary to the (n−1)th and (n+1)th core sequence, (ii) a pyrimidine nucleotide stretch Pm, at the 3′ end, (iii) a pyrimidine nucleotide stretch Pm at the 5′ end, and (iv) optionally, one or more insertions of a pyrimidine nucleotide stretch Pm, wherein each m is an integer independently selected from the range of 0 to 40, and wherein each P is independently selected from a thymidine and a cytosine residue.