Heavy metal stabilization of DNA origami nanostructures

DNA origami is a powerful tool to fold 3-dimensional DNA structures with nanometer precision. Its usage, however, is limited as high ionic strength, temperatures below ~60 °C and pH values between 5 to 10 are required to ensure the structural integrity of DNA origami nanostructures. Here, we demonstrate a simple and effective method to stabilize DNA origami nanostructures against harsh buffer conditions using [PdCl4]2-. It provided the stabilization of different DNA origami nanostructures against mechanical compression, temperatures up to 100 °C, double-distilled water and pH values between 4 to 12. Additionally, DNA origami superstructures and bound cargos are stabilized with a yield of 98 %. To demonstrate the general applicability of our approach, we employed our protocol to a Pd metallization procedure at elevated temperatures. In the future, we think that our method opens up new possibilities for applications of DNA origami nanostructures beyond their usual reaction conditions.