【摘要】DNA纳米技术是设计和构建具有一定用途的人工核酸纳米结构。DNA纳米技术中的一个重要挑战就是如何有效设计和构建具有明确功能的纳米尺度的结构和器件。计算机辅助工具是预测、设计、建模以及描绘DNA结构的最强有力的工具。计算机辅助设计DNA结构以及识别有效的自组装路径让DNA作为一种独特的材料在构建纳米结构领域中显露锋芒。文章总结了DNA纳米结构设计的原理,介绍了一些用于DNA结构设计的算法以及一些用户友好软件。同时,对DNA纳米技术中构建DNA逻辑门以及LDNA计算方面的最新研究进展做了介绍。
DNA nanotechnology is the design and manufacture of artificial nucleic acid structures for technolog- ical uses. A central challenge of DNA nanotechnology is to efficiently design and construct well-defined func- tional structures and devices at the nano scale. Computational tools are the most powerful means of predicting, designing, modeling, and characterizing nucleic acid structure. Computer-aided design of nucleic acid structure and the identification of efficient self-assembly pathways have revealed nucleic acids as unique material for the construction of nano-components. In this review, we have summarized the principles of the DNA nanostruc- tures design, and introduced some algorithms and user-friendly software for nucleic acid design. Meanwhile, the recent progress in DNA logic gates and DNA computing is also included