Light-modulated self-assembly of synthetic nanotubes

Artificial biomolecular polymers with the capacity to respond to stimuli are emerging as a key component to develop living materials and synthetic cells. Here, we demonstrate artificial DNA tubular nanostructures that form in response to light in a dose-dependent manner. These nanotubes assemble from programmable DNA tile motifs that are engineered to include a UV-responsive domain, so that UV irradiation activates nanotube self-assembly. We demonstrate that nanotube formation speed can be tuned by adjusting the UV dose. We then couple light-dependent activation of tiles with RNA transcription, making it possible to control nanotube formation via concurrent physical and biochemical stimuli. Finally, we illustrate how UV activation effectively controls nanotube assembly in confinement, as a rudimentary stimulus-responsive cytoskeletal system that can achieve various conformations in a minimal synthetic cell. This study contributes new tile designs that are immediately useful to build biomolecular scaffolds with controllable dynamics in response to multiple stimuli.