Paranemic cohesion of DNA molecules in different counter ions at room and physiological temperatures

Isothermal assembly allows the construction of DNA nanostructures at constant moderate temperatures. Further, assembly of DNA nanostructures in different counter ions expands their utility in various applications. In this work, we demonstrate the isothermal assembly of paranemic crossover (PX) DNA motifs in magnesium (Mg (2+) ), calcium (Ca (2+) ) and strontium (Sr (2+) ) at 20 °C and 37 °C. Further, we study how differences in design affect the assembly of 4-stranded and 2-stranded PX molecules.