Many plasma membrane receptors and ligands form nanoscale clusters on the plasma membrane surface. However, methods for directly and precisely manipulating nanoscale protein localization are limited, making understanding the effects of this clustering difficult. DNA origami allows precise control over nanoscale protein localization with high fidelity and adaptability. Here, we describe how we have used this technique to study how nanoscale protein clustering affects phagocytosis. We provide protocols for conjugating DNA origami structures to supported lipid bilayer-coated beads to assay phagocytosis and planar glass coverslips for TIRF microscopy. The core aspects of this protocol can be translated to study other immune signaling pathways and should enable the implementation of previously inaccessible investigations.

Organizing DNA origami building blocks into higher order structures is essential for fabrication of large structurally and functionally diverse devices and molecular machines. Unfortunately, the yields of origami building block attachment reactions are typically not sufficient to allow programed assembly of DNA devices made from more than a few origami building blocks. To investigate possible reasons for these low yields, a detailed single-molecule fluorescence study of the dynamics of rectangular origami dimerization and origami dimer dissociation reactions is conducted. Reactions kinetics and yields are investigated at different origami and ion concentrations, for different ion types, for different lengths of bridging strands, and for the \"sticky end\" and \"weaving welding\" attachment techniques. Dimerization yields are never higher than 86%, which is typical for such systems. Analysis of the dynamic data shows that the low yield cannot be explained by thermodynamic instability or structural imperfections of the origami constructs. Atomic force microscopy and gel electrophoresis evidence reveal self-dimerization of the origami monomers, likely via blunt-end interactions made possible by the presence of bridging strands. It is suggested that this mechanism is the major factor that inhibits correct dimerization and means to overcome it are discussed.

Membrane plays significant role in cellular enzymatic reactions. To better understand its function on membrane integral or bound enzymes, DNA origami and frame-guided assembly strategy are combined to construct a given-size, addressable enzyme-containing nanomembrane as a heterogeneous reactor to explore the enzymatic catalyst reaction on the membrane. The enzymes in the membrane are located precisely. This new kind of membrane can enrich hydrophobic substrate molecules in aqueous solution to the embedded enzymes. Otherwise, this nanomembrane shows the capability of substrate selectivity, which plays important role in the highly efficient and specific properties of enzymes in vivo.

Transcription is one of the fundamental steps of gene expression, where RNA polymerases (RNAPs) bind to their template genes and make RNAs. In addition to RNAP and the template gene, many molecules such as transcription factors are involved. The interaction and the effect of these factors depend on the geometry. Molecular layout of these factors, RNAP and gene is thus important. DNA nanotechnology is a promising technology that allows controlling of the molecular layout in the range of nanometer to micrometer scale with nanometer resolution; thus, it is expected to expand the RNA study beyond the current limit.

Metal-enhanced fluorescence has attracted much attention due to its scientific importance and lots of potential applications. Plasmon coupled metal nanoparticles have been demonstrated to further improve the enhancement effects. Conventional studies of metal-enhanced fluorescence on the bulk systems are complicated by the ensemble average effects over many critical factors with large variations. Here, fluorescence enhancement of ATTO-655 by a plasmon coupled gold nanorod dimer fixed on a DNA origami nanobreadboard was studied on the single-particle level. A series of gold nanorod dimers with linear orientation and different gap distances ranging from 6.1 to 26.0 nm were investigated to explore the plasmon coupling effect on fluorescence enhancement. The results show that the dimer with the smallest gap (6.1 nm) gives the highest enhancement (470-fold), and the enhancement gradually decreases as the gap distance increases and eventually approaches that from a monomer (120-fold). This trend is consistent with the numerical calculation results. This study indicates that plasmon coupling in gold nanorod dimers offers further increased excitation efficiency to achieve large fluorescence enhancement.