3D DNA Origami Nanoparticles: From Basic Design Principles to Emerging Applications in Soft Matter and (Bio-)Nanosciences.

Scaffold-based lattice-engineered 3D DNA origami is a powerful and versatile technique for the rational design and build-up of arbitrarily structured and monodisperse DNA-based 3D nanoobjects. Relying on the unsurpassed molecular programmability of sequence-specific DNA hybridization, a long DNA single strand (termed scaffold) is assembled with many short single-stranded oligomers (termed staples), which organize the scaffold into a 3D lattice in a single step, thereby leading to 3D nanoparticulate structures of the highest precision in high yields. Applications of 3D DNA origami are increasingly wide-spread and interface with numerous fields of sciences, for example, anisometric or anisotropically functionalized nanoparticles, fundamental investigations of superstructure formation, biomedicine, (bio)physics, sensors, and optical materials. This Minireview discusses the fundamentals and recent advances from structure formation to selected applications, with a mission to promote cross-disciplinary exchange.