DNA is the blueprint of all life, giving instruction and function to organisms ranging from simple one-celled bacteria to complex human beings.

Now Northwestern University researchers report they have used DNA as the blueprint, contractor and construction worker to build a three-dimensional structure out of gold, a lifeless material.

Using just one kind of nanoparticle (gold) the researchers built two common but very different crystalline structures by merely changing  the strands of synthesized DNA attached to the tiny gold spheres. A different DNA sequence in the strand resulted in the formation of a different crystal.

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