DNA-based parallelograms: A retrospective or a perspective?

The DNA-based parallelogram is a self-assembling nanostructure that was first designed and prepared almost 10 years ago. Even though a variety of different and better-bahaved DNA tiles have been proposed and realized, the DNA parallelogram still holds interest. It can be used as template for the assembly of nucleic-acids or non-nucleic acid functional elements and it can be polymerized into supramolecular assemblies of complex hierarchy. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.