DNA-templated nickel nanostructures and protein assemblies

We report a straightforward method for the fabrication of DNA-templated nickel nanostructures on surfaces. These nickel nanomaterials have potential to be applied as nanowires, as templated catalyst lines, as nanoscale magnetic domains, or in directed protein localization. Indeed, we show here that histidine-tagged phosducin-like protein (His-PhLP) binds with high selectivity to both Ni2+-treated surface DNA and DNA-templated nickel metal to create linear protein assemblies on surfaces. The association of His-PhLP with DNA-templated nickel ions or metal is reversible under appropriate rinsing conditions. Nanoscale DNA-templated protein assemblies might be useful in the construction of high-density protein lines for proteomic analysis, for example. Importantly, these nanofabrication procedures are not limited to linear DNA and can be applied readily to other self-assembled DNA topologies.