Designing ordered nucleic acid self-assembly processes

•Self-assembly processes can be designed by explicitly designing assembly kinetics.•Designing the steps of a self-assembly process can make it easier to scale.•Self-assembly process design can employ sophisticated tools from computer science.•Simple components can self-assemble complex structures by computing as they grow.

A major goal of self-assembly research is the synthesis of biomolecular structures with diverse, intricate features across multiple length scales. Designing self-assembly processes becomes more difficult as the number of species or target structure size increases. Just as the ordered assembly of a machine or device makes complex manufacturing possible, ordered (or ‘algorithmic’) biomolecular self-assembly processes could enable the self-assembly of more complex structures. We discuss the design of ordered assembly processes with particular attention to DNA and RNA. The assembly of complexes can be ordered using selective, multivalent interactions or active components that change shape after assembly. The self-assembly of spatial gradients driven by reaction-diffusion can also be ordered. We conclude by considering topics for future research.