Analytical Sciences

DNA Base Pair Stacking Assembly of Anisotropic Nanoparticles for Biosensing and Ordered Assembly

Zhiyu HE,* Guoqing WANG,*,**,*** Xingguo LIANG,*,*** Tohru TAKARADA,** and Mizuo MAEDA**

*College of Food Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, 5 Yushan Road, Qingdao 266003, China
**Bioengineering Laboratory, RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
***Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao), Qingdao 266237, China

Anisotropic gold nanoparticles have attracted great interest due to their unique physicochemical properties derived from the shape anisotropy. Manipulation of their interfacial interactions, and thereby the assembling behaviors are often requisite in their applications ranging from optical sensing and diagnosis to self-assembly. Recently, the control of interfacial force based on base pair stacking of DNA terminals have offered a new avenue to surface engineering of nanostructures. In this review, we focus on the DNA base stacking-induced assembly of anisotropic gold nanoparticles, such as nanorods and nanotriangles. The fundamental aspects of anisotropic gold nanoparticles are provided, including the mechanism of the anisotropic growth, the properties arising from the anisotropic shape, and the construction of DNA-grafted anisotropic gold nanoparticles. Then, the advanced applications of their functional assemblies in biosensing and ordered assembly are summarized, followed by a comparison with gold nanospheres. Finally, conclusions and the direction of outlooks are given including future challenges and opportunities in this field.

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