Scaffold-free DNA wireframes are nanostructures where the nanostructure's helices define the vertices and the edge of the structure with a hollow volume1. However there is no long scaffold strand that is routed between all the edges. This overcomes limitations inherent in scaffolded wireframe systems. Specifically, no size constraints imposed by the available scaffolds and no algorithmic challenge of finding physically feasible scaffold routes. Although improving, structures designed with this approach suffer from low yield1 compared to similarly sized scaffolded approaches. In addition, since strands are added at equimolar concentrations this approach is more susceptible to manual errors, local defects, and yield will decrease with complexity.
References
- Wang, W. et al. Automated design of scaffold-free DNA wireframe nanostructures. Nat Commun 16, 4666 (2025).