Reversible control of cell membrane receptor function using DNA nano-spring multivalent ligands

Chemically functionalized and nanostructured materials, which mimic the features of the natural extracellular matrix, provide a tool to organize cell surface receptors into nanoscale clusters and manipulate cell functions. However, the existing materials are mainly based on static structures. Herein, we developed a DNA based structure-switchable and multivalent material that acts as a ‘nano-spring’, enabling reversible control of membrane receptor function at the cell surface. This ‘nano-spring’ can be easily synthesized by rolling circle amplification and finely tuned by changing the circular template design. Using this ‘nano-spring’ to interact with cells, we have demonstrated that the movement of the DNA nanostructure is sufficient to direct a cell morphology change from the normal morphology to having numerous cell protrusions and affect the mRNA expression level of integrin related genes. This DNA nano-spring structure can be a competitive material for actively manipulating cell receptor function and may help us to understand the role of receptor mediated signalling cascades.