NTA directed protein nanopatterning on DNA Origami nanoconstructs.

Precisely patterning proteins and other molecules at the nanoscale is crucial to future biosensing and optoelectronic applications. One- and two-dimensional DNA nanoconstructs have proven to be useful scaffolds for nanopatterning. This paper demonstrates the application of nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) forming chelate complexes to localize histidine (His) tagged proteins via Ni(2+) ions onto DNA based structures. Particularly, enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) was directed to specific surface locations on a designed DNA Origami nanoconstruct, and the resulting EGFP nanopattern was visualized using atomic force microscopy (AFM).