Controllable self-assembly of RNA dendrimers

We report the construction of RNA dendrimers utilizing the highly stable pRNA-3WJ motif as a core scaffold. Each of the component strands was synthesized and then self-assembled sequentially to construct 3D globular Generation-0 to Generation-4 RNA dendrimers with high yield and purity. RNA dendrimers are envisioned to have a major impact in nanotechnology and nanomedicine, due to their structural diversity, thermodynamic stability, monodisperse nature, nanoscale size, polyvalent property, ease of synthesis, high loading capacity, and simple derivatization with desired functional modules prior to assembly.189